It was a welcome tailored for a close friend, not a war criminal, and it looked to the Ukrainians like their nightmare.

Trump and Putin “looked like buddies” during their initial greetings in Alaska Friday – but the dynamic had shifted by the end of their visit, according to a body language expert.

Papers bearing U.S. State Department markings and detailing President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin were discovered in the business center of an Anchorage hotel, raising new questions about the handling of sensitive government information.

Russian President Putin speeches during their joint press conference with U.S. Persident Donald Trump after their meeing on war in Ukraine at U.S. Air Base In Alaska on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage,

The arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday will mark a rare occasion when the Kremlin leader will set foot on American soil. Putin, who is due to land in Anchorage later on Friday, hasn’t visited the U.

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.

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.

Pickup trucks, salmon fishing and grizzly bear displays give way to FBI agents and $1,000 hotel rooms as Anchorage’s biggest political moment unfolds. “All eyes” on the state.