On the Alaska governor’s desk, the horned skull of a musk ox, an ice age relic, is proudly displayed, resting on a collage of pictures of the state.
It was hunted by Mike Dunleavy himself on a trip to an island in the Bering Sea, the narrow strait of water which separates the US from Russia, where Vladimir Putin’s plane will cross into American airspace before his first foray onto US soil in almost a decade.
The governor, the state’s most senior politician, proudly tells me that there is another trophy from his hunting trips on show in the nearby airport, a large brown bear hide, encased in glass.
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Alaska is a vast wilderness which is sparsely populated. But the quiet is being pierced now by a cacophony of questions over this summit.
Why was Putin invited here? What does he want? What’s he willing to concede? And is Donald Trump about to walk into his trap?
The summit will take place on a military base on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska’s biggest city.
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It was thrown together at short notice so there were few venue options available, given the security that is required.
Even so, many of the visiting journalists and support staff for politicians are staying in Airbnbs because there are not enough hotel rooms available for everyone.
There is the sense that this is a momentous occasion.
The last time Putin met a US president was in 2021, when he exchanged starkly differing views with Joe Biden in Geneva.
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But that was before his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He’s been a pariah ever since, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, including the abduction of Ukrainian children.
With this invite, Trump is bringing him back in from the cold.
I ask Governor Dunleavy whether Putin is being rewarded for his invasion of a sovereign nation.
“I don’t think so,” he replies, “I think this is an opportunity for the president to sit down face to face [with Putin].
“And the president is going to ascertain really quickly in a face-to-face meeting whether he’s serious or not for peace. It’s difficult to solve these wars unless you have a discussion with the participants.”
In a green, timber-framed house around the corner, Meg Leonard – a one-time Republican who describes herself as a “never Trumper” – has a different view.
On a tree in her front garden, the Ukrainian flag hangs. She bought it after watching Zelenskyy’s disastrous meeting with Trump in the Oval Office in February on TV.
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Zelenskyy was mocked for not wearing a suit and told by Trump he “didn’t hold the cards” in the situation.
“I think he was denigrating the president of Ukraine and that is not good,” she says.
“Right after that, I ordered the flag and hung it up because I support Ukraine. Putin should not be allowed to take land that is not his.
“I think Donald Trump thinks he’s a strongman and that Putin should capitulate to him.
“I don’t think Putin has any intention of doing that.”
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Meg says she is appalled that this meeting is taking place one-on-one, without Ukraine’s president. Trump has said that Vlodymyr Zelenskyy will be invited to any follow-up meeting.
“Trump should not be making decisions for Ukraine,” Meg says, “Zelenskyy should at least have a voice in what is being decided. It is his country and his people.
“Putin’s going to be five miles from here. He’s not welcome by me. He is an international criminal; he should be arrested. He is killing women and children, and people in hospitals.”
But you don’t have to go far in Alaska to find a contrasting view.
In Whittier, a port town mostly home to fishermen, boat operators and tourists, wildlife photographer Tim Colley from New York thinks Trump is an underestimated dealmaker. He’s not concerned about Zelenskyy’s absence from the summit.
“I think Trump truly wants peace,” Tim says, “At some point in time, you’ve got to decide how many more people need to die. Does Zelenskyy want to just keep throwing people into the fire?
“I think these two guys [Trump and Putin] have probably the ultimate egos in the world. I’m not sure Zelenskyy’s got the self-control to tread lightly on those egos.”
There is a symbolism to this meeting taking place in Alaska. The US bought the state from Russia in 1867. It’s an example of how territories can be traded.
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Ukraine is nervous that their land may, too, be carved up, without them in the room.
Trump has promised that is not on the table in this initial meeting with Putin, but the US president is famously unpredictable.
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When he met with Putin in 2018 in Helsinki, he went against his own intelligence community to side with the Russian president, suggesting there hadn’t been Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The people of Ukraine, who are enduring a terrifying and intensifying onslaught from Russia, will watch nervously as this summit takes place thousands of miles away without an advocate for them in attendance.
