Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin hold talks in Alaska on Friday, with the U.S. president's hopes of sealing a ceasefire agreement on Ukraine uncertain but with a last gasp offer from Putin of a possible nuclear deal that could help both men save face.

U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday for a high-stakes summit that could determine not only the trajectory of the war in Ukraine but also the fate of European security.

But beyond making the U.S. and Russia neighbors, Alaska has been the site of both cooperation and conflict between the two nations beginning, in part, with the purchase of the 49th state from the Russian empire.