Fri Aug 15 2025

The West has long sought to make Vladimir Putin a pariah over the bloodshed in Ukraine. But on Friday, the Russian leader will break out of international isolation and step foot on U.S. soil, welcomed by an American president eager to fulfill his promise of stopping the war. European leaders who held a virtual conference with Donald Trump earlier this week, say he agreed ceding land can only be negotiated by Kyiv. But behind closed doors, without the war-torn country represented in the room, anything can happen. Host Caryn Ceolin speaks with history professor Elizabeth Wood about what Putin and Trump each want, and why there are still lingering fears their summit could end up selling out Ukraine like one of Trump’s real estate deals.