President Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda is set to take center stage again this week, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting the White House on Monday as Washington continues efforts to broker peace between Moscow and Kyiv.

The upcoming meeting comes on the heels of Trump’s summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Anchorage on Friday, where the U.S. leader shifted from demanding a ceasefire to calling for a final peace deal. Trump discussed some of the details of his meeting with Putin during a phone call with Zelenskyy from Air Force One.

The White House has yet to release details of the meeting but has acknowledged that key European allies will accompany Zelenskyy.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb all confirmed their plans to attend.

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy acknowledged his last White House visit — cut short by a shouting match with both Trump and Vice President JD Vance — and told reporters in Brussels he hopes Monday’s meeting ‘will be productive’ rather than a repeat of February’s encounter.

Trump’s back-to-back meetings with both former Soviet republics could set the stage for a trilateral summit with the U.S., Russia and Ukraine.

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy said that, so far, Russia has ‘given no sign that the trilateral will happen.’ The Ukrainian leader also said over the weekend that he would use his meetings in Washington to stress that Kyiv will reject any peace deal with Moscow that undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Trump signaled that Putin could agree to end the war if Zelenskyy ceded the entirety of the hotly-contested Donbas region to Russia. 

The area, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, is an industrial hub where coal mining and steel production remain central to Ukraine’s economy. Control of Donbas’s mines and factories would hand Moscow powerful leverage over Kyiv’s post-war financial survival.

‘The constitution of Ukraine makes it impossible to give up territory or trade land,’ Zelenskyy said during a press conference at the EU Commission on Sunday. 

‘Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at the trilateral Ukraine, United States, Russia,’ Zelenskyy said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed reports that Trump supports Russia’s conditions for peace.

‘The president has said that in terms of territories, these are things that Zelenskyy is going to have to decide on,’ Rubio told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

‘All the president is trying to do here is narrow down the open issues,’ Rubio said, adding that Trump remains focused on ending the Kremlin’s three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday outlined firm conditions for a ‘real peace’ ahead of a high-stakes meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday.

Zelenskyy posted to X following his call with Trump and then with European leaders, after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska to try and bring about an end to the 3 ½ year war.

‘The positions are clear. A real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions,’ Zelenskyy wrote.

‘Killings must stop as soon as possible, the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the sky, as well as against our port infrastructure. All Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians must be released and the children abducted by Russia must be returned.’

Zelenskyy wrote that thousands of Ukrainians remain in captivity and must all be released, while adding that pressure on Russia must be maintained while the ‘aggression and occupation continue.’

In a follow-up post, Zelenskyy warned of Russian ‘treachery’ that could lead to attacks in order to gain leverage amid ongoing negotiations.  

‘Based on the political and diplomatic situation around Ukraine, and knowing Russia’s treachery, we anticipate that in the coming days the Russian army may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors,’ he wrote. 

Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with Trump in the White House on Monday as the three nations try and bring an end to the bloodshed.

Trump wrote on Truth Social following the Putin meeting that he felt a peace agreement, rather than a ceasefire, was ultimately the best way to solve the war. Trump had been calling for a ceasefire ahead of his meeting with Putin. 

‘It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,’ Trump wrote.

He said if Monday’s meeting with Zelenskyy also goes well, a meeting will be scheduled with Putin and ‘potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.’

Zelenskyy’s visit will mark his first return to the Oval Office since February, when Trump berated him publicly for being ‘disrespectful’ during a remarkable press briefing, which led to the collapse of a U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.

Though a peace agreement was not decided upon during the meeting on Friday, Trump described it as a successful meeting with ‘a lot of progress’ made. Putin expressed similar sentiments, adding the summit was a ‘constructive atmosphere of mutual respect.’

After his meeting with Putin, Trump also spoke to European leaders, who said they back Trump’s peace push but insist Ukraine must have ‘ironclad’ security guarantees to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire.

‘It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force,’ a statement signed by various leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

‘No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries. Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and NATO.’

During an interview with Fox News before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelenskyy ‘to get it done,’ but said there would also be some involvement from European nations.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump closed out his 30th week in office of his second term with a high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, in an attempt to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. 

The two did not reach a peace agreement, but Trump said that the meeting was a success and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House in Washington Monday. 

‘It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,’ Trump said in a Saturday post on Truth Social. 

If the meeting in Washington with Zelenskyy goes well, Trump said that a trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine will be scheduled. 

Trump described the meeting with Putin as ‘very warm,’ and said that he believed a deal was imminent. 

‘I can tell you, the meeting was a very warm meeting,’ Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview. ‘You know, he’s a strong guy, he’s tough as hell on all of that, but the meeting was a very warm meeting between two very important countries, and it’s very good when they get along. I think we’re pretty close to a deal. Now look, Ukraine has to agree to it.’

Here’s what also happened this week: 

Crime crackdown 

On Monday, Trump announced he would activate approximately 800 National Guard troops and would take over the Metropolitan Police Department to address crime in Washington. The move came after Trump already bolstered federal law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital Saturday. 

‘I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order and public safety in Washington, D.C.,’ Trump told reporters at a Monday press conference. ‘And they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly.’

Trump initially suggested federalizing Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and dispatching National Guard troops to address crime in Washington Aug. 6 in response to the assault of a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer. 

Although a temporary federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department is warranted for emergency situations, Washington officials filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s move Friday. 

‘By illegally declaring a takeover of MPD, the Administration is abusing its temporary, limited authority under the law,’ Washington Attorney General Brian Schwalb wrote in a Friday X post. ‘This is the gravest threat to Home Rule DC has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it.’

Smithsonian review

The White House sent a letter to the Smithsonian Tuesday, announcing it would conduct a review of its museums and exhibits leading up to the 250th birthday of the United States in 2025.

‘We want the museums to treat our country fairly,’ Trump told reporters Thursday. ‘We want their museums to talk about the history of our country in a fair manner, not in a woke manner or in a racist manner, which is what many of them, not all of them, but many of them are doing.’

‘Our museums have an obligation to represent what happened in our country over the years. Good and bad,’ Trump said. ‘But what happened over the years in an accurate way.’ 

The White House said in a letter Tuesday the review would involve examining social media, exhibition text and educational materials to ‘assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.’ 

‘This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions,’ the letter said.

The Smithsonian told Fox News Digital it would coordinate with the White House, Congress and its governing Board of Regents on the matter. 

‘The Smithsonian’s work is grounded in a deep commitment to scholarly excellence, rigorous research and the accurate, factual presentation of history,’ the Smithsonian said in a statement.

The State Department announced on Saturday that it was halting all visitor visas to individuals from Gaza while it reviews the issuing process.

‘All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days,’ a post on X from the State Department read.

Neither the State Department nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented on what triggered the sudden review.

In June, the Trump administration began cracking down on vetting for visa applicants. This involved the introduction of a ‘comprehensive and thorough’ review of all applicants’ ‘online presence.’

‘Every visa adjudication is a national security decision. The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests, and that all applicants credibly establish their eligibility for the visa sought, including that they intend to engage in activities consistent with the terms for their admission,’ the State Department said at the time.

Earlier this month, France suspended evacuations from Gaza after a Palestinian student allegedly shared a social media post with an image of Adolf Hitler that called for killing Jews.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told France Info radio that the woman ‘must leave the country’ and that she ‘has no place’ in France.

‘No evacuation of any kind will take place until we have drawn the necessary conclusions from this investigation,’ Barrot said in the interview. He also vowed there would be a probe into how the Palestinian woman was able to get a student visa.

The student, later identified as Nour Attaalah, left France for Qatar after the incident.

As of Jan. 1, 2025, the population in Gaza had dropped by 6% since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, according to Reuters, which cited the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). The outlet noted that this includes approximately 100,000 Palestinians who fled the enclave.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department. 

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in person on Friday for the first time in six years when they get together in Anchorage, Alaska. 

Here is a history of Trump’s high-stakes interactions with Putin while being President of the United States: 

2015 – Early mutual admiration between Putin and Trump 

Mutual admiration was publicly brewing between Putin and Trump in late 2015 when Trump was running for his first term in office. 

In December that year, Putin described Trump as being the ‘absolute leader in the presidential race’ and a ‘very outstanding person, talented, without any doubt.’ 

Trump later told supporters at a rally in Ohio that ‘It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.’ 

‘I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect,’ Trump added, according to The Hill. 

2017 – Trump, Putin hold first in-person meeting in Germany during G20 Summit 

Trump and Putin held their first in-person meeting on July 7, 2017, at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. 

The sit-down lasted for more than two hours, during which Trump ‘pressed Russia’s Vladimir Putin on U.S. election meddling while also making headway on the Syria crisis,’ according to a Fox News Digital report at the time. 

Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump and Putin ‘connected very quickly’ and had ‘positive chemistry.’ 

2017 – Trump and Putin shake hands at APEC summit in Vietnam 

Trump and Putin were captured on camera shaking hands months later during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, Vietnam on Nov. 10, 2017. 

White House officials said at the time they would not have a formal meeting there due to scheduling issues, The Washington Post reported. 

2018 – Summit draws Trump, Putin to Finland’s presidential palace 

Trump and Putin met again formally on July 16, 2018, at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland. 

In an interview following the meeting, Putin told Fox News that he and Trump discussed Iran’s nuclear program and the ‘situation with North Korea.’ 

He also said Trump informed him that his posture is ‘Crimea is part of Ukraine.’ 

2019 – Trump says he, Putin had ‘tremendous discussion’ in Osaka, Japan 

Trump told reporters on June 29, 2019, that he and Putin had a ‘tremendous discussion’ at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. 

‘I think they’d like to do trade with the United States. And they have great product. They have great land. They have very rich land. And a lot of oil, a lot of minerals, and the kind of things that we like,’ Trump said at the time. ‘And I can see trade going out with Russia. We could do fantastically well. We do very little trade with Russia, which is ridiculous, frankly. So I could see some very positive things happening.’ 

Trump also told his counterpart not to ‘meddle’ in the 2020 elections when pressed by a reporter, Fox News Digital wrote at the time. 

Trump, who was seated next to Putin, was asked by a reporter if he would tell ‘the Russian president to not meddle in the election.’ Trump, without looking at Putin, responded, ‘Of course I will. Don’t meddle in the election, president. Don’t meddle in the election.’ 

2025 – Phone calls between Trump and Putin as war in Ukraine rages on 

Trump and Putin held numerous phone calls this year in the lead-up to Friday’s meeting in Alaska. 

Calls took place in February, March, May and June. 

Trump said after his call in May that ‘Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.’ 

2025 – Trump and Putin meet for the first time since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine 

Trump and Putin are meeting Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, for the first time in years. 

The high-stakes meeting is the first U.S.-Russia summit since June 2021, which was under former President Joe Biden’s administration. That summit came just eight months before Putin invaded Ukraine. 

Trump has described the talks as a ‘feel-out meeting,’ and has made clear that his top priority will be to determine whether a ceasefire in Ukraine is possible. Trump predicted earlier this week that he would be able to make that determination within the first ‘two minutes.’ 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is threatening to sue the Trump administration if they don’t release the Epstein files.

Late last month, Schumer and every Senate Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee invoked an arcane, nearly century-old law to compel the Trump administration to release information on Jeffrey Epstein.

The move came as Epstein drama had already paralyzed the House, and as Democrats in the upper chamber began to ramp up their messaging against President Donald Trump for his handling of the issue.

And Friday was the deadline for the Justice Department and White House to comply, and so far, the documents have not been given to Schumer and Senate Democrats.

‘They’re now breaking the law to hide the files,’ Schumer said on X. ‘[Senate Majority Leader John Thune] must appoint a lawyer to defend the Senate in Court and get the files.’

‘If he chooses complicity — we’ll take them to court ourselves.’

The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Thune’s office for comment.

However, a senior GOP aide noted to Fox News Digital that it’s not entirely up to the South Dakota Republican to appoint legal counsel to represent the Senate. Instead, that falls onto the Senate Joint Leadership Group, which includes Thune, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and the president pro-tempore of the Senate, Schumer, and the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Judiciary and, in this case, the Homeland Security committees.

That committee would have to approve legal counsel on a two-thirds vote. Or, the Senate could vote on a resolution to grant legal counsel, which also requires two-thirds of lawmakers to advance. 

Last month, Democrats invoked the ‘rule of five,’ a 1928 law that requires government agencies to hand over information if any five lawmakers on a Senate or House committee with jurisdiction over the information make a request. Typically, it’s viewed as a tool of the minority party to exert oversight powers.

In a letter sent to the White House and the DOJ, Schumer and Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security panel charged that it was ‘essential that the Trump Administration provide full transparency,’ in releasing the files related to the late pedophile.

‘We call on you to fulfill those promises of transparency,’ they wrote.

Democrats’ request included all documents, files, evidence and other materials that DOJ had related to the case of U.S. v. Jeffrey Epstein, along with any records related to Epstein and his clients.

However, whether the law is enforceable in court remains to be seen, given that it has seldom been used since its inception.

The last attempt came in 2017, when Democrats tried to force the release of documents surrounding the lease of the Old Post Office building in the District, which became one of Trump’s hotels.  

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is launching an investigation into Meta after reports found that the company green-lit internal rules that allowed AI chatbots to have ‘romantic’ and ‘sensual’ exchanges with children. 

Hawley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, wrote in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that his committee will dive into whether Meta’s generative-Al products enabled exploitation, deception or other criminal harms to children. Further, the probe will look at whether Meta misled the public or regulators about its safeguards on AI.

‘I already have an ongoing investigation into Meta’s stunning complicity with China — but Zuckerberg siccing his company’s AI chatbots on our kids called for another one,’ Hawley told Fox News Digital. ‘Big Tech will know no boundaries until Congress holds social media outlets accountable. And I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle can agree that exploiting children’s innocence is a new low.’

Hawley demanded that the company must produce a trove of materials related to internal policies on the chatbots, communications and more to the panel by Sept. 19.

His announcement on Friday comes after Reuters first reported that Meta, which is the parent company to Facebook, had given the go-ahead to policies on chatbot behavior that allowed the AI to ‘engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.’

Hawley noted that Meta acknowledged the reports and charged that the company ‘made retractions only after this alarming content came to light’ in his letter to Zuckerberg.

‘To take but one example, your internal rules purportedly permit an Al chatbot to comment that an 8-year-old’s body is ‘a work of art’ of which ’every inch… is a masterpiece — a treasure I cherish deeply,’’ he wrote.

‘Similar conduct outlined in these reports is reprehensible and outrageous and demonstrates a cavalier attitude when it comes to the real risks that generative Al presents to youth development absent strong guardrails,’ Hawley continued. ‘Parents deserve the truth, and kids deserve protection.’

A spokesperson for Meta confirmed to Fox News Digital that the document reviewed by Reuters was real but countered that ‘it does not accurately reflect our policies.’ 

‘We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Separate from the policies, there are hundreds of examples, notes, and annotations that reflect teams grappling with different hypothetical scenarios. The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed.’

The document in question, known as the ‘GenAI: Content Risk Standards,’ included over 200 pages of rules that outlined what workers at Meta should consider as acceptable behavior when building and training chatbots and other AI-generative products for the company.

Hawley demanded that the company produce all iterations of the GenAI: Content Risk Standards, all products that fall under the scope of the guidelines, how the guidelines are enforced, risk reviews and incident reports that reference minors, sexual or romantic role-play, in-person meetups, medical advice, self-harm, or criminal exploitation, communications with regulators and a paper trail on who decided and when to revise the standards and what changes were actually made. 

Congressional Democrats remained skeptical that any progress toward an end to the war in Ukraine would be made ahead of the meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The high-stakes meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, comes as lawmakers have grown anxious to see an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and with many ready to slap a bone-breaking sanctions package on Moscow and its allies unless Putin relents.

But Democrats are not so sure that Trump will yield results in his closed-door meeting with Putin, the first between U.S. and Russian leaders since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

‘I fear this meeting could once again end with America ceding ground to an autocrat who has spent his career undermining democratic values,’ Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and the top Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee, said.

He warned that there could be no concessions without Ukraine’s involvement, Russia’s withdrawal from Ukrainian territory and ‘enforceable guarantees’ for Ukraine’s security.

‘Anything less would be an invitation for further aggression from Moscow and every autocrat watching to see if the United States still has the backbone to defend the principles that have kept Americans safe since the Second World War,’ he said.  

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Trump of previously ‘playing footsie’ with Putin, but noted that it appeared that the president’s disposition toward his Russian counterpart had shifted.

He added that last year, House Democrats and Republicans worked together to pass another military aid package for Ukraine, and likened it to a ‘Churchill or Chamberlain moment.’

‘We are either going to appease the dictator or we’re going to aggressively oppose the dictator,’ Jeffries said. ‘And as we saw with Chamberlain, appeasing the dictator never works.’

Trump himself sought to set expectations for the summit, telling Fox News Radio earlier this week that there would be a 25% chance that the meeting would end in failure.

And aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that he wanted to ‘see a ceasefire rapidly.’

‘I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today,’ he said. ‘Everyone said it can’t be today, but I’m just saying I want the killing to stop.’

The Trump administration has threatened to slap secondary tariffs on India, a major buyer of Russian oil, if the meeting did not go well. That comes after Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline to reach a ceasefire agreement, which the president recently shortened to ’10 or 12′ days.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Intelligence Committee, told reporters that ‘people have been willing to give the White House and the president the benefit of the doubt.’

‘But if he doesn’t produce anything at this summit, after drawing red line after red line … there will be growing concern and a growing pressure to try and get something done,’ the New Hampshire Democrat said.

One area where many lawmakers in the upper chamber agree is the necessity for a sanctions package against Russia. Currently, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have a bill in the works that would slap up to 500% tariffs on countries buying energy products from Moscow.

Blumenthal told MSNBC earlier this week if Trump stood firm and insisted on a ceasefire, Putin come to the table with European leaders and secure security guarantees ‘he has the makings of a potential agreement that could win him the Nobel Peace Prize.’

‘But my fear is that he will be the mercurial Donald Trump who allowed the deadline for sanctions to pass last Friday without any imposition of new levies on Russia, and that he will fail to adhere to those principles adopted yesterday by the European countries in their meeting,’ he said. 

As President Donald Trump greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a B-2 stealth bomber soared overhead, flanked by four F-35 jets. 

Putin looked up at the sky as the planes buzzed overhead while he walked alongside Trump, and then made a comment to the U.S. president. 

The display was as much a symbol as it was a show of force—a pointed reminder of America’s military reach at the very moment the two leaders prepared to discuss the future of global security.

The dramatic arrival underscored the high-stakes nature of the Alaska summit, the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin since Trump’s return to the White House earlier this year. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, situated just outside Anchorage, was chosen for its robust security, strategic location, and symbolic position—physically closer to Russia than Washington, D.C., yet firmly on American soil.

Onlookers in Anchorage and across social media quickly seized on the moment. Many called it an ‘insane flex,’ noting the B-2 bomber’s recent combat history.

Only two months ago, the stealth aircraft played a central role in U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, dropping bunker-buster bombs in a move that drew both praise and condemnation on the world stage.

The B-2 Spirit, built by Northrop Grumman, is one of the most advanced aircraft ever created—capable of penetrating dense air defenses and striking targets anywhere in the world without refueling. Its distinctive flying-wing design and radar-absorbent coating make it nearly invisible to enemy radar. 

With a range of over 6,000 nautical miles and the ability to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, the B-2 serves as a critical component of America’s nuclear triad. Only 21 were ever built, and fewer than 20 remain in service, making any public appearance a rare and deliberate statement.

‘Absolutely incredible,’ wrote one X user. Another added, ‘Putin now knows what will be greeting him if he were to ever cross that line that should never be crossed.’

After the brief tarmac ceremony, Putin entered ‘The Beast’ alongside Trump. The heavily armored presidential limousine rolled past a row of American fighter jets lined up in silent formation, their presence another visual reminder of the stakes surrounding the talks.

The two leaders traveled to a secure meeting hall on the base, beginning discussions at about 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Trump has said he plans to ‘set the table’ during the meeting for a future summit that includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But still, he told Fox News’ Bret Baier he ‘won’t be happy’ if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.