Russian President Putin and US President Trump are meeting in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending Russia’s war on Ukraine, with Ukraine excluded from the meeting.

The discussions are aimed at resolving Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine, which has lasted over 42 months.

With Ukrainian officials excluded from the negotiations, the August 15 meeting at an air base in Anchorage is shaping up to be a watershed moment for Ukrainians tired of conflict, Trump’s peacemaking ambitions, and Putin’s efforts to recast Russia’s global stature.

European leaders, who have also been kept on the sidelines, were concerned about prospective accords that might weaken Ukraine or impair Europe’s ability to help Ukraine and stand up to Russia’s threats.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped in the Far Eastern city of Magadan on his way to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska.

The symbolic meeting between Putin and the United States, particularly on land that was once under Russian sovereignty, was seen by Russians as a minor win in and of itself.

A war crimes arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court has restricted Putin’s travel abroad, and the West has branded him a pariah for his unjustified war on Kyiv.

Negotiating directly with Washington and keeping Ukraine out of peace talks is seen by many as reminiscent of the 1945 Yalta Conference, in which the US, UK, and the Soviet Union essentially split post-World War II Europe.

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Trump, confident in his deal-making abilities, has been increasingly frustrated by his inability to halt Russia’s war, which has killed or wounded more than 1 million Russian soldiers, according to Western estimates. Ukrainian casualties are running in the hundreds of thousands, too.

A growing number of bilateral arms control treaties governing the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals have collapsed, due to acrimony between Washington and Moscow. The last major one, New START, is set to expire next week.

Trump recently suggested that to end the conflict, the biggest in Europe since World War II, Moscow and Kyiv will have to swap land.

That has deeply worried the Ukrainians, who currently occupy no Russian territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to London on the eve of the summit, to rally support from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy visited Berlin, where he attended a video conference with several major European leaders who feared being sidelined.

Trump and Putin have met six times over the years, though this is the first since Trump returned to the White House in January.

The two have spoken on the phone at least five times since January, and the White House’s lead envoy has traveled to meet Putin three times.