Aug. 15 (UPI) -- The countdown to U.S. President Donald Trump's much-anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to agree a cease-fire in Ukraine was in full swing early Friday.
Air Force One was awaiting the arrival of Trump at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to fly him the 4,000 miles across country to his rendezvous with Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, with their meeting scheduled to get underway at 3:30 pm EDT -- late morning in Alaska.
The Putin delegation was also en route on a much longer 12-hour flight via the far eastern Russian region of Magadan, where the party broke their journey for a "full-fledged regional trip," including a visit to an industrial plant and a meeting with the regional governor, according to the Kremlin.
Before departing the White House, Trump simply posted "HIGH STAKES" on his Truth Social media platform, having earlier set high expectations by saying he believed Putin wanted to make a deal to end the conflict and putting the chance of failure at just 25%.
Related
