Of the millions of Ukrainians driven from their homes by Russia’s invasion, 1,000 have ended up in, of all places, Alaska. They found work in fisheries and bakeries, learned to drive the snowbound winter roads and cobbled together new lives near the top of the world.
Now, they are watching with a mixture of hope and unease as the man who led the attack on their homeland, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, arrives in the state where they found refuge, to meet with President Trump on Friday at a military base in Anchorage.
“It’s difficult to accept that he’s going to be here,” Liudmyla Stretovych, who left Ukraine two weeks after Russia invaded in February 2022, said of Mr. Putin. “We lived through a lot of pain because of him.”
All of Alaska is abuzz about the summit, with residents trading gossip about spotting Secret Service agents at coffee shops, while state officials figure out whether to shut down roads for security and cope with airspace closures during Alaska’s peak summer tourism season.
But Alaska’s recent Ukrainian arrivals said Mr. Putin’s looming visit had jolted them on a deeper level, bringing a war that is never far from their minds right into their backyards.
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