U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin have arrived in Alaska ahead of their high stakes talks on Ukraine. The expected one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin has expanded to include U.S. officials Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio and other Russian officials.

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have convened in Alaska for a summit that was initially set to be a one-on-one meeting but has since expanded to include additional advisers from both countries. The change in format, which now features a three-on-three arrangement, is viewed as a positive development by European and Ukrainian leaders concerned about previous solo meetings between the two leaders.

The inclusion of top US officials, such as military and economic advisers, is seen as a signal of alignment with NATO and European allies. This broader participation is expected to provide more comprehensive support to President Trump and ensure a more detailed record of the discussions. Economic topics, including the potential easing of sanctions and strengthening of US-Russia economic ties, are anticipated to be part of the agenda.

Trump, Putin arrive in Alaska for historic summit

And Nancy Cordes, who's traveling with the president, Nancy, what's the White House explanation for the full staff-up that has now taken place from what was described as a one-on-one meeting? Now, you could imagine negotiations going on in which, if they get through that question of a ceasefire, now the Russians can have a conversation with the secretary of commerce, secretary of treasury, the full bounty of U.S. relationships might be laid before them. Is that the context in which this grouping is put together, or just how's the White House explaining it? John, we've asked the White House that very question. We haven't gotten a response yet because both they and the Russians were saying, until President Trump landed, that this was going to be a one-on-one meeting. Now suddenly it is a three-on-three. As you can imagine, Ukrainian leaders and European leaders more broadly are probably breathing a big sigh of relief about that, because they've all seen what has happened in the past when Donald Trump has been alone in a room with Vladimir Putin, most famously at that summit in Helsinki, Finland, back in 2018, where President Trump emerged from his meeting with Putin, did a joint press conference, just like we were anticipating will happen today, and said that he believed Vladimir Putin over all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies that said that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election. Their big fear going into this summit was that Trump would be swayed by Putin, that he would be persuaded by Putin to see his side of things on a whole variety of issues, from Ukrainian territory to Ukrainian membership in NATO and the EU and security guarantees for the Ukrainians and on and on. So the fact that Marco Rubio is now going to be in that room, Steve Whitkoff is now going to be in that room, and that it's not just going to be Trump and Putin, is probably a major sign to the Europeans that things are going to go in the way that they hoped they would. And I just want to remind our viewers now that you are looking at replay of the introduction of the two men, the reintroduction, the first time they've been face-to-face since 2019 that we know about. And we are waiting on that sort of formal beginning of a meeting to happen, and we hope to see pictures of that shortly. I do want to turn to Samantha Vinograd, a national security contributor here at CBS News who served during the Biden administration, to get some perspective, because, you know, Sam, it's been interesting to see how quickly the reshuffling has happened just in the past few hours of who's even participating. We know that the president's top military adviser, General Kane, has been added. He's got a lot of credibility, I am told, with the president. The Supreme Allied Commander is a statement bringing him here to Alaska. I'm told he's got a very good feel for the fight in Ukraine. At first, the administration didn't want that military presence here, but then, I'm told, they thought it was best to have the warfighters here. What does that signal to you? Is that part of a flex? Does that signal to you that they're going to actually be part of a formal conversation? Well, I will say, Margaret, having been part of summits at the head of state level in the past, the details on who's in a meeting often do finalize at the last minute. That's not totally unusual. Having these military advisers on the ground in Anchorage I do think is a flex. I also think, to Nancy's point, it does send a signal that President Trump is allied and aligned, at least for now, with our allies in NATO, our allies in Europe. So that is a net positive. Having other advisers in the room for what was a one-on-one and now has turned into what we would call a restricted meeting, a smaller group meeting, is also a positive from a counterintelligence perspective. Having additional U.S. officials next to President Trump, rather than just a translator, will likely allow President Trump to be supported by individuals with information that he doesn't have and for there to be a more comprehensive record of the meeting itself. That has been an issue in the past. So overall, the presence of these different officials is a net positive. And I will note that the presence of finance and investment advisers on both sides, both on the U.S. side and the Russian side, is probably viewed as a positive by Vladimir Putin, because he knows that investment and economic growth are a soft spot for President Trump. And so his ability to shift the conversation toward enhancing U.S.-Russia bilateral economic ties, which would include the lifting of sanctions and export controls, is likely something that President Putin views as a positive from a participation perspective.

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A meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to take place in Alaska, with European leaders notably excluded from the talks. Until Europe can defend itself, it's not likely to be invited to a great power dialogue, experts have told Euronews.

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Trump, Putin arrive in Alaska for historic summit

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Ukraine Invasion