White House says Alaska summit will be 'listening exercise' for Trump

WASHINGTON

The White House tempered expectations for this week's summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday, describing the upcoming meeting as a "listening exercise" for the American leader.

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the summit will be held in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city on Friday when the president will set the "goal" of being able to "walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war."

"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 a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end," she told reporters at the White House.

Leavitt was alluding to the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not be in attendance during the meeting. She emphasized that the sit-down is taking place at Putin's request.

The forthcoming talks will be the first face-to-face meeting between sitting Russian and US presidents since June 2021, when Putin met then-US President Joe Biden in Geneva, Switzerland. It will also mark the first time a Russian president sets foot on Alaskan soil since the Russian Empire sold the territory to the US in 1867.