Alaskans greet Putin with Ukrainian flags, protest ‘war criminal hanging out here’

Several hundred people gathered for a pro-Ukraine rally in Anchorage, Alaska, where U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are set to meet Friday.

The high-stakes summit — the first in-person meeting between an American president and Putin since the latter launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is meant to lay the ground for a ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not invited to the summit, scheduled to kick off around 11 a.m. local time at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Protesters started to gather early on Friday morning ahead of Putin's arrival in Anchorage, chanting pro-Kyiv slogans and demanded that Russia return the 20,000 Ukrainian children it has kidnapped from the war zone. The protesters also took umbrage at Trump inviting Putin to a meeting on American soil in Alaska, which used to be Russian territory until it was sold to the United States in 1867.