Several hundred people gathered at a pro-Ukrainian rally in Anchorage, Alaska, where US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet on Friday, Politico reports, News.bg reports.
The summit, the first of its kind since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, aims to lay the groundwork for a ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been invited to the talks, which will take place at the Elmendorf-Richardson joint military base and will begin at around 10 p.m. Bulgarian time.
Protesters began gathering in the morning, chanting slogans in support of Kiev and demanding that Russia return some 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted from combat zones. Many expressed outrage at Trump's decision to invite Putin to the territory of Alaska, which was Russian until it was sold to the United States in 1867.
“Ukraine and Alaska, never again Russia“, wrote in X Ostap Yarish, media advisor to the “Razom for Ukraine“ foundation, publishing footage from the rally. Organizers said on social media that "Alaska stands against tyranny," calling for a protest against an "international war criminal."
The Indigenous Peoples' Movement NGO called the decision to host Putin a "betrayal of our history" and urged Trump not to make a deal with him.
The US president announced plans to hold trilateral talks with Zelensky and Putin soon after the Alaska meeting, with Alaska remaining a possible host. Ukraine and its European partners reacted with cautious optimism after Trump stepped up his criticism of the Kremlin and proposed the idea of US security guarantees as a condition for a peace deal.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed that talks on security guarantees were inevitable for achieving peace. Although Trump has previously raised the idea of a "territory-for-peace trade," he has said he will not discuss the issue with Putin without Zelensky's participation.
The White House, however, warned against expecting immediate results, describing the meeting as a "listening exercise." The Kremlin said no documents were expected to be signed after the talks.