American officials quickly discovered a major snag in planning for the summit: summertime is peak tourist season in Alaska, and options both available and equipped to host the two world leaders were severely limited.

Whether the U.S.-Russia summit can lead to a deal to produce peace in Ukraine more than 3 1/2 years after Moscow’s invasion remains to be seen.

In August 2025, as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to meet in Alaska to discuss the war in Ukraine, speculation swirled online about whether Trump could or should arrest the Russian president at the meeting on a warrant from the International Criminal Court that accused Putin of carrying out war crimes.