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White House says Trump-Putin meeting is a 'listening exercise'
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
The White House frames the Trump-Putin meeting as a listening exercise aimed at understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict and exploring potential resolutions.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Friday's Alaska summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin "is a listening exercise for the president," the White House said on Tuesday, tempering expectations for a quick Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal.
"Only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
"This is a listening exercise for the president."
Trump will meet one-on-one with Putin during the talks, which will take place in Anchorage, Alaska, the White House said. He may, in the future, also visit Russia.
"Perhaps there are plans in the future to travel to Russia," said Leavitt.
Key issues remain ahead of the talks. Trump has said the two sides will need to cede land to end the bloody 3-1/2-year-old conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said his country's constitution prohibits such a deal and that no arrangements can be made without Ukraine's participation in talks.
The White House declined to comment on conversations taking place prior to the Putin meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy. Trump said on Monday that Zelenskiy may be invited to a future meeting with Putin.
"The president has deep respect for all parties that are involved in this conflict and are trying to bring this conflict to an end," said Leavitt.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Chris Reese and Nia Williams)
A summit meeting is a high-level conference where leaders of countries or organizations come together to discuss important issues and make decisions.
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