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

Halibut Olympia, a Tuesday-night kind of recipe, was part of the planning (if not the eating) at the Friday meeting.

The meeting between President Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is taking place in a region rich with significance for Moscow. Once Russian territory, Alaska was sold by Alexander II in 1867 for $7.

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,

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.

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.