Russia's decision to sell Alaska was influenced by its financial struggles following the Crimean War and the desire to strengthen ties with the United States, a fellow rival of Great Britain. Selling Alaska provided Russia with much-needed cash and ensured that Britain would not gain control of the territory.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Kharkiv region expressed skepticism over diplomatic negotiations to the end the war in Ukraine after U.S.

Trump will be accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Air Force One for his flight to Alaska for his meeting with President Putin, the White House said.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was not invited to the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, but 1,000 Ukrainian refugees in Alaska will be watching with trepidation.

Live updates and the latest news as a D.C. law enforcement checkpoint draws protestors and Trump and Putin prepare for their summit in Alaska.

Trump will meet Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday as the U.S. leader hopes for a breakthrough in the three-and-a-half-year war, following previous negotiations involving his envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president's rejection of a U.S. ceasefire proposal.

The meeting follows President Donald Trump’s summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska, after which Trump told allies that Putin wanted Ukraine’s Donbas.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon at the White House, just days after Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin left an Alaska summit without a ceasefire deal.