Will Trump and Putin’s Alaska Summit Lead to a Ukraine Cease-Fire?

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet in Alaska to work towards an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Can a deal be made without Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to participate? Plus, White House Council of Economic Advisers chair Stephen Miran is tapped to fill a temporary spot on the Federal Reserve Board. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:17.7	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.
0:24.1	No rest for Donald Trump in August as the president sets up a summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska for Friday of this week.
0:33.9	Mr. Trump's goal is to make progress towards settling the long-running war in Ukraine,
0:40.8	though the president of Ukraine so far, Volodymyr Zelensky, was not invited.
0:46.1	Is Russia making any concessions here?
0:48.6	And what are the outline of a possible deal that both sides could accept?
0:53.3	Also, the president named Stephen Marin,
0:56.1	chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers to fill a temporary spot on the Federal
1:02.0	Reserve Board. What does that mean for the Fed and interest rates going forward? Welcome. I'm
1:07.9	Paul as you go here on the Potomac Watch podcast, Daily podcast,
1:12.7	Wall Street Journal Opinion. I'm here today with Joe Sternberg and Julian Melcher, both of our
1:17.8	London-based correspondence. Gillian has made several trips to Ukraine since the war began in February
1:24.2	of 2022, most recently, just a few weeks ago. So Trump had a Friday
1:31.3	deadline that he had given to Vladimir Putin about making progress towards a ceasefire.
1:38.6	Trump let that pass and did not impose any sanctions. Instead, he announced after a visit by his special envoy,
1:47.6	Steve Whitkoff, to Moscow, this summit on Friday in Alaska. And let's listen to Trump.
1:54.1	Explain briefly today why he's going. I'm going to meet with President Putin,
1:58.8	and we're going to see what he has in mind.
	...

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