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How to Plan a Trip: A Month-by-Month Guide

Trip planning can be a daunting task. Flights, insurance, gear, itineraries, accommodation, and so much more all need to be considered and sorted out before you go.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed , especially when you haven’t done something like this before.

After over close to twenty years of traveling the world, I’ve planned countless trips and vacations for myself, friends, and family, even group tours. In the beginning, it was trial by fire. I learned a lot of lessons the hard way . However, that helped me develop an efficient checklist that ensures I don’t miss anything important during the trip-planning process.

One big question I get asked a lot is when to start planning. To answer that question, this post breaks the planning process down into month-by-month steps so you can plan your next trip with ease.

Here’s how to plan a trip:

Table of Contents

12 Months Out: Decide on Your Destination(s)

12 months out: start collecting points & miles, 8 months out: visa requirements, passports, and vaccines, 4-6 months out: book your flight, 3-4 months out: book your accommodation, 2 months out: plan your activities, 1 month out: get travel insurance, 7 days out: pack.

If you already have a dream destination in mind, great! If not, here are some posts to help you get started:

• 11 Cheap Places to Visit on the US Dollar
• 10 Places to Travel on a Budget
• The Best Tropical Islands in the World
• My Favorite Cities in the World
• My 31 Favorite Places to Visit in the USA

But, this far out, the real thing you want to do is start saving money and figuring out your costs. Accommodation and flights are the obvious ones, but how much do restaurants, attractions, and other activities cost? Knowing these costs will allow you accurately estimate how much money you’ll need. Here is how to research costs:

• Buy a guidebook
• Check out my free travel guides (we break down all costs for each destination)
• Skim the cost of living on Numbeo.com
• Google prices for major activities you want to do, such as scuba diving, winery tours, etc. ( Get Your Guide is a good place to start)
• Use Skyscanner or Google Flights for flight prices and sign up for alerts to get emails if the price changes
• Use Discover Cars to price out (and book) a rental car if you need one
• Use Booking.com and Hostelworld to research accommodation costs

That may seem like a lot but you just want to get a general idea of how much you need to save. You can head to this page to see all my articles on how to save money for your trip .

These days, most cards have welcome offers of 60,000-80,000 points (some can be as high as 100,000) when you meet their minimum spending requirement (generally $2,000-5,000 USD within a 3–6-month time frame). That’s enough miles for a free round-trip economy flight to Europe from the East Coast of North America.

For more information on this subject, check out these posts:

• Points & Miles 101: A Beginner’s Guide
• How to Pick the Best Travel Credit Card
• My Favorite Travel Credit Cards
• How to Earn Points by Paying Your Rent
• The Ultimate Guide to Points & Miles
• How to Collect Points & Miles in Canada

In addition, get a fee-free ATM card. I use Charles Schwab, but there are lots of other banks that don’t charge ATM fees (don’t forget to check your local banks and credit unions too). Here’s how you can avoid bank fees while traveling .

While you likely won’t need a visa to your desired destination, you should still check to make sure. If you’re a US citizen, use the State Department’s search tool to learn about your destination’s entry requirements. (Canadians can use this search tool .)

Additionally, make sure that your passport is valid for at least six months after your trip ends. Many countries require this for entry. Passport application and renewal wait times can be long (the standard is 6-8 weeks in the US), so do this as soon as possible.

Also, research if you need any vaccines for your trip as many countries require vaccines to enter (and I don’t mean COVID). You can learn more about country requirements and recommendations at the CDC’s website . They can help you find a clinic near you as well (if you’re in the US).

Here are two articles on how to score a cheap flight:

• How to Always Find Cheap Flights
• 5 Steps to Booking a Cheap Flight

If you’ve signed up for a travel credit card and received your sign-up bonus, use your miles to book your flight and/or hotel. The further out you book, the more availability there will be. Use tools like Point.me and Awayz to help you find the best redemptions on your points (for flights and hotels, respectively).

But even if you aren’t using miles or didn’t find a cheap flight deal, there are still many ways to avoid being the person on the flight who paid the most for their ticket. My two favorite sites for finding cheap airfare are Skyscanner and Google Flights .  

Here are my go-to sites when it comes to finding the best deals on accommodation:

• Hostelworld – Hostelworld has the largest selection of hostels and is my go-to site for finding affordable hostels.
• Booking.com – Booking.com is the best overall platform for finding budget hotels and guesthouses.
• Agoda – Agoda has the best results if you’re heading to Asia (though it sometimes has good US deals too).

I recommend checking the cancelation policy of wherever you book. I like having the flexibility to cancel if something comes up.

If you’re on a tight budget or you want to connect with more locals during your travels, consider joining platforms like Couchsurfing or BeWelcome . These communities allow travelers to stay with residents for free as a sort of cultural exchange.

Long-term travelers can also try housesitting or WWOOFing as well, as they both offer free accommodation (in exchange for pet sitting or farm work, respectively).

Now it’s time for the fun part of travel planning! That means reading books about your destination, learning general travel tips, connecting with online communities, and pre-booking any necessary activities.

Pre-booking ensures you don’t miss out on things that you really want to do on your trip. If you’re going to a popular destination, tours and activities fill up quickly, and if you’re going to a smaller place, activities or tours might only run on certain days and have limited availability.

Either way, Get Your Guide the best place to search for and pre-book activities, tours, and tickets. Local tour operators and attractions can list their offerings on this online marketplace, so you can find tons of stuff here, from food tours to museum tickets with skip-the-line entry.

Get travel insurance . That way, these purchases are protected should something happen that makes you cancel your trip.

A lot of people think, “I’m healthy. I don’t need travel insurance.” But travel insurance is much more than just medical protection. It covers you when your camera breaks, your flight is canceled, a family member dies and you have to come home, or something gets stolen. (That’s why you’ll also want to familiarize yourself with any common travel scams to look out for, as well as how to conduct yourself in order to blend in to avoid looking like a target for petty theft.)

Yes, it’s an added expense. But it’s always better to be safe than sorry. I never leave home without it, because I’ve seen firsthand just what can happen on the road.

I never thought I would pop my eardrum while I was scuba diving in Thailand, break my camera in Italy, or get knifed in Colombia.

Unfortunately, bad things can happen when you’re traveling. True, these events are few and far between. But they can cost tens of thousands of dollars. If you’re not prepared to pay out of pocket, buy travel insurance.

Here are some posts on travel insurance to get you started:

• How to Buy Travel Insurance
• The 5 Best Travel Insurance Companies
• The Best Travel Insurance for Seniors

I never leave home without travel insurance. You shouldn’t either.

I travel with a 45L REI bag and then a smaller day bag. Here’s my suggested packing list to help you take just the right amount of stuff and avoid overpacking ( here’s a list for female travelers ).

Additionally, bring any prescriptions you need for the duration of your trip. Try not to rely on filling those abroad (though bring a prescription and doctor’s note just in case).

With everything taken care of, it’s time to go on your trip and have fun! Make a list of last-minute items you need to pack the day of (your toothbrush, glasses, phone charger, etc.) and check in online beforehand (you can do so 24 hours in advance). (If you’ve got lounge access through a premium travel rewards card , you might find yourself looking forward to getting to the airport early.)

If you’re feeling nervous, don’t worry. That’s perfectly normal. Feeling anxious or unsure is something every traveler experiences. But you’ve made it this far. Trust your planning and follow your instincts. You’re about to have the trip of a lifetime.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner . It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld . If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• SafetyWing (best for everyone)
• Insure My Trip (for those 70 and over)
• Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage)

Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals.

Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more.

Hi, I’m Nomadic Matt, the New York Times best-selling author of How to Travel the World on $50 a Day and Ten Years a Nomad, as well as the founder of this website! And I’m here to help you save money on your next trip.

Got a comment on this article? Join the conversation on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter and share your thoughts!

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I recommend only products and companies I use and the income goes to keeping the site community supported and ad free.

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ÖBB Scotty 4+

Öbb-personenverkehr ag, screenshots, description.

Welcome to ÖBB Scotty, the mobile journey planner from ÖBB for iOS! With ÖBB Scotty the ÖBB offers you the most comprehensive information service about public transport in Austria. Now ÖBB Scotty you will have access to all important information about your journey while being on the go. From most up-to-date itineraries with maps to real-time information. Journey planner for public transport ÖBB Scotty has access to all schedules of public transport operators in Austria and calculates the optimal trips for you by train, bus, tram, subway and ship. Of course you can look at footpaths to stops and stations clearly laid out in a street map - this way you'll always find your way. When looking for the quickest route to one of your contacts ÖBB Scotty calculates that by taking the adress from your contacts. This service needs access to your adresses, so ÖBB Scotty asks you for access to your contacts the first time you activate it. This is the only ÖBB Scotty-service that accesses contact information. No personal data is used, only adress data. Information in real-time Wherever you are, now you can get all the most up-to-date travel information directly on your iPhone. It doesn't matter whether you're on board of a train or if you're picking somebody up at the station - with ÖBB Scotty you know if your train is on schedule. If you like, you can also get the Timeboard, the departure monitor of your stop / station, directly on the screen of your iPhone and iPad. Most up to date disruption information A storm paralyzes half of Austria? A route is completely blocked? A rail replacement bus service will be in place? Always something unexpected may happen, that's life! But from now on you're always informed. You will get all information about delays or disruptions in the ÖBB railway network directly within ÖBB Scotty. This way you always stay connected. ÖBB train radar The train radar shows all ÖBB-trains running in the Austrian railway network on a map. Not only do you see all long distance trains but also regional trains. By clicking on a train you get information on its real time data – location and punctuality – and ist next stops. The viewing of trains can be limited to train types – for instance railjet or suburban trains – or to certain trains. There's more to it than that… … more you will find at www.oebb.at/scottymobil Enjoy your journey and have fun with ÖBB Scotty, your ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG

Version 7.0.1

Discover the latest update of the ÖBB Scotty App! - New: "My Trips" – Save your favorite connections for convenient access and ensure offline accessibility. - A bug associated with VoiceOver, which led to an app crash, has been successfully fixed.

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Stopping Point Calculator

Plan a road trip with stops.

Travelmath helps you figure out where to stop when planning a long road trip from one location to another. The best stopping point for an overnight hotel stay or a break from driving often depends on how far or how long you want to drive before pausing to rest. You can find the closest city to your stopping point to look for hotels, or explore other cities and towns along the route. Use this as a road trip planner when you're driving cross-country or mapping a route with multiple stops.

You can also calculate the halfway point between cities, the total driving distance or driving time , or get a budget for your next road trip.

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How to afford your dream trip this year

Where to start, what to save and how to do it, according to financial experts

With a fresh year in front of us, January inspires us to start travel planning. But no matter what kind of trip you want to take, someone has to foot the bill. If that someone is you, it’s time to start budgeting.

“A lot of people — and what I used to do in my early 20s — just put the entire trip on a credit card without a plan on how to pay for it,” says financial educator Yanely Espinal , director of educational outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance . “That’s how I ended up in so many debt cycles.”

Michelle Singletary, author and personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, thinks very few people budget for travel, or they underestimate vacation costs, but “you need to start with the budget first, because if you don’t, you’ll be tempted to overspend,” she says.

Michelle Singletary’s money milestones for every age

Instead of framing a new savings routine like a New Year’s resolution — some lofty goal you’re bound to quit — consider it a necessary part of your trip-planning process. You already plan for how to get there, where to stay and what to do; why not plan how you’ll pay for it?

Start with a brutally honest audit of your spending

Your financial health should determine how much you can spend on a trip, or whether you can take one in the first place. “I know people don’t want to hear it, but vacations are a treat,” Singletary says. “They’re a luxury; they’re extra.”

If you have credit card debt you’re carrying month to month, don’t have an emergency fund or don’t have a college savings account started for your children, Singletary says that your dream trip might not be in the cards this year — but that you can still take a vacation.

“Vacation is when you take some time off to just decompress, but that doesn’t have to be on a beach,” she says. Instead, travelers can find cheaper ways to unwind, such as with shorter trips, staycations or camping .

Easy wins, good habits, better living.

When it’s time to start saving for a trip, you need to first see how you’re spending in your day-to-day, so you can find out where you can cut back. That can be complicated, because financial ignorance is bliss.

“Every single time I talk to people, they don’t know how much they spend on food in a month,” Espinal said. “You have to sit down and actually look at your spending and add it all up. … Then it’s real, and you can’t ignore it anymore.”

You need to save, but they want to splurge: How to budget with travel companions

Espinal advises clients to print the last 90 days of their credit card and checking account activities. Reviewing a paper version is a more visceral experience than looking at a phone or computer, she says. When you’re going through each penny you spent, “a lot of times, the regret kicks in,” Espinal says. But that can be a good thing. “That emotional piece is so important to help you make a commitment to tighten up moving forward,” she added.

Build your trip around your budget, not a place

In her early travel days, Espinal traveled like many of us do: She’d decide on a place to visit and end up paying outrageous airfare or taking flights with long layovers to cut costs to make her dream a reality.

But these days, Espinal saves money by letting travel prices dictate where she goes. She starts by plugging in her available travel dates and departure city into Google Flights, then reviews the map of results to see what works for her budget and sounds most appealing. You can also sign up for airfare newsletters from sites such as Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights), Thrifty Traveler , Airfare Spot and Airfarewatchdog .

Naturally, that approach won’t work for every trip. You may need to get home for Thanksgiving or travel for your niece’s birthday. When your travel plans aren’t flexible, set price alerts for flights you want and watch for them to drop.

You don’t have to start your vacation brainstorming around flying, either. Consider getting somewhere by bike, train or car — which may take longer, but can make for a memorable journey. (An overnight bus to Nashville, anyone? )

The best times to find cheap flights, according to Google data

Break down your estimated trip costs

Once you’ve decided where you’re going, estimate how much the trip will cost, so you can save accordingly. You’ll need a rough estimate for transportation (airfare, gas, going to and from the train station, getting to your hotel, etc.), accommodations, food and drinks , and your extracurriculars (surf lessons, cooking classes, museum visits). It may be helpful to calculate previous vacation costs to get an idea of your travel spending behavior.

As you calculate those estimates, think of where you can cut costs preemptively. For example, you probably don’t eat out for every meal of the day — and you don’t have to when you travel. Both Singletary and Espinal recommend travelers stock up on groceries , whether that’s ingredients from the farmers market to cook local cuisine at your Airbnb or make sandwiches for your lunch at the beach.

It’s impossible to exactly predict how much you’ll spend, so Singletary says to build in some cushion to your budget.

You asked, we answered: Our best travel advice of 2023

Map out your ‘backwards’ budgeting plan

Now that you have a trip in mind, it’s time to map out a budget. Espinal recommends taking a “backwards” approach to the process. Starting with the cost of the trip and when you want to take it, work backward to see how much you need to set aside each month to save by your departure.

If you have a trip in December that is expected to cost $2,000, “I can divide that by how many paychecks I have between now and December,” Espinal says. “It just makes it so much easier for you to see, ‘I need $166 every month for 12 months,’ versus, ‘I need $2,000 for this trip.’”

Then you can get creative with how to come up with the money. What can you cut to put toward your trip? Set goals such as dining out less or canceling a few subscriptions, and use the excitement of your upcoming travel to soften the blow.

You can keep track of your budgeting process through a spreadsheet , or with financial planning apps such as Mint , Marcus Insights , Dollarbird , TravelSpend and YNAB .

Singletary creates a document to keep track of her travel budgeting and sets her travel money aside in a “ life happens fund ” bank account. Even though she has the funds ready, Singletary pays using a credit card for a few reasons: You can earn points and miles, and the credit card company can help you with disputes or cover you with its travel insurance.

Once Singletary gets home, she pays the credit card bill with money from her fund. That way, she comes back knowing she won’t have snowballing bills or creeping debt, because “that’s not a vacation to me,” she says. “That’s an escape.”

More spring travel tips

Trends: Cheaper spring break | Cool all-inclusives | Let ChatGPT plan your day | Is it safe to go to Mexico? | Book a free night in Sicily

The basics: Tip without cash | Traveling with kids | Decide where to stay | A pre-trip checklist of house chores | How to get your passport | Plan a ski trip | Eat without feeling terrible | Budget for your next trip | Plan a cheaper Disney trip

Flying: Fly like a decent human being | How to set airfare price alerts | Flying with an injury | PreCheck vs. Global Entry vs. CLEAR | Can I fly with weed? | AirTag your luggage | Airport parking 101 | Deal with airport crowds | Why Stalk airfare after booking

Driving: 9 tips for road tripping with a baby | Try the Airbnb of rental cars | Rent an EV | Do I need an international license to drive abroad? | Avoid big rental car fees

Greener travel: Bike to the airport | How environmentalists travel | How to find ‘greener’ flights | Make your travel better for the planet

Pets: How to travel with pets | Why the pet fee? | Pet flying 101 | Alternatives to flying with your pet

In case of emergency: Manage airport disasters | Your flight is canceled | How to get a human on the phone | What to do if your car gets stuck | Find your lost luggage | How to get a refund for a canceled flight | Deal with a bad hotel room | When you’re bumped off your flight | If you get rebooked without your family | What are my rebooking rights? | Recover a lost item at TSA, the airport or your flight

Travel app Sēkr can plan your next road trip with its new AI tool

Sēkr, a startup that offers a mobile app for outdoor enthusiasts and campers, is launching a new AI tool for planning road trips. The new tool, called Copilot, is available on the startup’s updated website and app, which is used by more than 100,000 users. 

The company was founded in 2016 with the goal of helping the “van life” community find campsites based on their needs, such as shower facilities, restrooms, overnight van parking or free Wi-Fi. The app also allows users to connect with fellow travelers who want to participate in outdoor activities together, like rock climbing or skiing.

After being acquired by van company Peace Vans in December 2023, the startup is under new leadership. Sēkr and Peace Vans CEO Harley Sitner was a user of the app for seven years but had noticed last year that the app had gone dormant. He learned that the founders of the startup were going to unwind the app due to the sudden shift in global fundraising climates in late 2022, despite having a strong user base. Sitner, who was a former product manager at Microsoft, was approached to acquire Sēkr in November 2023.

Fast-forward eight months, the startup is now looking to help people better plan the journeys to their destinations, while also updating the app with enhanced features that stay true to Sēkr’s original mission.

With the new AI-powered road trip planning tool, Sēkr is combining natural language processing with proprietary data from its community of users who have left reviews and ratings about specific places. Copilot also looks at publicly available data when creating road trip itineraries. The tool leverages OpenAI’s GPT, Meta’s Llama and others.

“For the millions of people traveling by van, car, or RV this summer, Sēkr Copilot will help you bypass hours of trip planning to quickly deliver a better itinerary,” Sitner said in a statement. “AI isn’t going to create a panoramic sunset, but it will help you overcome the notorious planner’s block, set you up for serendipitous moments, and connect you to an authentic road trip experience co-created by Sēkr’s incredible community of dedicated users.” 

Copilot can be accessed via the new “Trip Planning” tab on the startup’s website or app. Once users open the tool, they will be asked to answer a series of prompts about where they’re going and what they’re looking for. The tool will then provide a travel itinerary that has editable trip legs that include camping destinations, stops for food and outdoor activities. 

The idea behind Copilot is to help travelers discover unique places that they may not have known about otherwise. For instance, the tool may encourage travelers to check out a taco truck parked by the side of a dusty road in Baja that users have said offers better food than a five-star reviewed Denny’s outside of Los Angeles. Or, the tool may encourage users to explore secluded, unmarked areas in BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land that overlooks scenic views. 

Sēkr is available on iOS and Android . The app’s basic features are free to use. Users can unlock premium features like, offline maps, event discount codes, and unlimited messaging and searching for $4.99 per month.

The startup previously received $2.25 million in seed funding led by Storyteller Overland, with participation from Backstage Capital, Techstars, Ad Astra Ventures, Crescent Ridge Ventures and Andy Ballester, the co-founder of GoFundMe.

Travel app Sēkr scores $2.25 million to bring campsite inventory into the digital age

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Putin Warns That Russia Could Provide Long-Range Weapons to Others to Strike Western Targets

President Vladimir Putin is warning that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets elsewhere in the world in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to launch attacks on Russian territory

Valentina Pevtsova

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to senior news leaders of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Lakhta Center skyscraper, the headquarters of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The Russian leader has used the annual forum as a showcase for touting Russia's development and seeking investors. (Valentina Pevtsova, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory.

Putin also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty.

The recent actions by the West will further undermine international security and could lead to “very serious problems,” he said, taking questions from international journalists — something that has become extremely rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

“That would mark their direct involvement in the war against the Russian Federation, and we reserve the right to act the same way,” Putin added.

The United States and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv.

On Wednesday, a Western official and a U.S. senator said Ukraine has used U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia under newly approved guidance from President Joe Biden that allows American arms to be used for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv , Ukraine’s second-largest city. The official was not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Putin claimed that using some Western-supplied weapons involves military personnel of those countries controlling the missiles and selecting targets, and therefore he said Moscow could take “asymmetrical” steps elsewhere in the world. The U.S. military said it does not control the missiles it provides to Ukraine or the targets.

“If they consider it possible to deliver such weapons to the combat zone to launch strikes on our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same type to some regions of the world where they can be used to launch strikes on sensitive facilities of the countries that do it to Russia?" he said.

"We will think about it,” he told the journalists on the sidelines of the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Asked whether Russia could resort to using nuclear arms, Putin said the conditions for utilizing that arsenal are clearly spelled out in Moscow's security doctrine.

“For some reason, they believe in the West that Russia will never use it,” he said.

“Look at what is written there,” he said of Russia’s nuclear doctrine. “If somebody’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible to use all means at our disposal.”

Even Russia's battlefield nuclear weapons are much more powerful than what the U.S. used against Japan in World War II, Putin said.

Speaking to senior news leaders of international news agencies, including The Associated Press, for more than three hours, Putin also said nothing will change in terms of Russia-U.S. relations regardless of whether Biden or Donald Trump wins the American presidential election in November.

“We will work with any president the American people elect,” Putin said.

“I say absolutely sincerely, I wouldn’t say that we believe that after the election something will change on the Russian track in the American politics,” he added. “We don’t think so. We think nothing that serious will happen.”

Putin also said Trump’s felony conviction at his hush money trial last week was the result of "the use of the court system as part of the internal political struggle.”

The Russian leader faced questions on various topics, although the more than two years of fighting in Ukraine dominated the session.

Putin claimed the West had opportunities to end the fighting in Ukraine but did not act on them, citing a letter he once supposedly wrote to Biden that said hostilities could end in two or three months if Washington stopped supplying Kyiv with weapons.

Asked about Russian military losses, Putin said that no country would reveal that information during hostilities but claimed without providing details that Ukraine's casualties are five times greater than Russia’s.

He also said Ukraine has more than 1,300 Russian troops in captivity, while more than 6,400 Ukrainian soldiers are being held in Russia.

The claims could not be independently verified and some Western estimates put Russia’s losses much higher than Ukraine’s.

Asked by AP about the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Putin said the U.S. is “taking energetic steps” to secure his release. Gershkovich was jailed over a year ago while on a reporting trip and charged with espionage. The journalist, his employer and the U.S. have denied the allegations, and Washington has declared him to be wrongfully detained.

Putin said that any such releases “aren’t decided via mass media” but through a “discreet, calm and professional approach.”

“And they certainly should be decided only on the basis of reciprocity,” he added, an allusion to a potential prisoner swap.

Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum as a showcase for touting Russia’s development and seeking investors. The meeting with journalists took place in Gazprom's new global headquarters, a needle-shaped 81-story skyscraper overlooking the Gulf of Finland.

While meetings with journalists were part of previous sessions, he has not taken questions from Western journalists at the St. Petersburg event since sending troops to Ukraine.

Last year, journalists from countries that Russia regards as unfriendly — including the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union — were not invited, and Western officials and investors also steered clear of the session after wide-ranging sanctions were imposed on Moscow over Ukraine.

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.

Copyright 2024 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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News Analysis

China as Peacemaker in the Ukraine War? The U.S. and Europe Are Skeptical.

Chinese officials say Xi Jinping’s upcoming trip to Moscow is a peace mission. But U.S. and European officials say he aims to bolster Vladimir V. Putin.

• Share full article

By Edward Wong and Steven Erlanger

• Published March 19, 2023 Updated March 20, 2023

Follow the latest news of the Putin-Xi summit in Russia .

WASHINGTON — As Xi Jinping, China’s leader, meets with President Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow this week, Chinese officials have been framing his trip as a mission of peace , one where he will seek to “play a constructive role in promoting talks” between Russia and Ukraine, as a government spokesman in Beijing put it.

But American and European officials are watching for something else altogether — whether Mr. Xi will add fuel to the full-scale war that Mr. Putin began more than a year ago.

U.S. officials say China is still considering giving weapons — mainly artillery shells — to Russia for use in Ukraine. And even a call by Mr. Xi for a cease-fire would amount to an effort to strengthen Mr. Putin’s battlefield position, they say, by leaving Russia in control of more territory than when the invasion began.

A cease-fire now would be “effectively the ratification of Russian conquest,” John Kirby, a White House spokesman, said on Friday. “It would in effect recognize Russia’s gains and its attempt to conquer its neighbor’s territory by force, allowing Russian troops to continue to occupy sovereign Ukrainian territory.”

“It would be a classic part of the China playbook,” he added, for Chinese officials to come out of the meeting claiming “we’re the ones calling for an end to the fighting and nobody else is.”

Mr. Xi landed around 12:59 p.m. on Monday at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, a Russian state news agency reported. A military band welcomed him on the tarmac before he rode in a convoy to a lunch and then an afternoon of talks with Mr. Putin at the Kremlin. In an article published in a Russian newspaper on Sunday, Mr. Xi wrote that China had pursued “efforts to promote reconciliation and peace negotiations.”

Skepticism of one of Mr. Xi’s stated goals pervades thinking in Washington and some European capitals. American intelligence agencies have concluded that relations between China and Russia have deepened during the war , even as Russia has become isolated from many other nations.

The two countries continue to do joint military exercises , and Beijing has joined Moscow in regularly denouncing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. China remains one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil, which has helped Moscow finance its invasion.

Chinese officials have at no point condemned the invasion. Instead, they have said ambiguously that all nations must respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. They have worked with Russian diplomats to block international statements condemning the war , including at gatherings of the Group of 20 countries in India in February and March.

While some Chinese officials see Mr. Putin’s war as destabilizing, they recognize a greater priority in foreign policy: the need to buttress Russia so the two nations can present a united front against their perceived adversary, the United States.

Mr. Xi made his views clear when he said earlier this month at an annual political meeting in Beijing that “Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-around containment, encirclement and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented severe challenges to our country’s development.”

But China remains firmly anchored in the global economy, and Mr. Xi and his aides want to avoid being seen as malign actors on the world stage, especially in the eyes of Europe, a major trade partner. Some analysts say Mr. Xi has adopted the guise of peacemaker, claiming he is on a mission to end the war to provide cover for efforts to strengthen his partnership with Mr. Putin, whom the International Criminal Court on Friday formally accused of war crimes in an arrest warrant.

Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin have a strong personal affinity and, as of this week’s state visit, have met 40 times since Mr. Xi became China’s leader in 2012. Mr. Putin called Mr. Xi a “dear old friend” in an article published in a Chinese newspaper on Sunday, saying the two enjoyed the “warmest relationship.”

China’s release last month of a 12-point statement of broad principles on the war was an attempt at creating a smoke screen of neutrality during planning for Mr. Xi’s trip, some analysts say.

“I think China is trying to muddy the picture, to say we’re not there to support Russia, we’re there to support peace,” said Yun Sun, a scholar of China’s foreign policy at the Stimson Center in Washington.

“There’s an intrinsic need for China to maintain or protect the health of its relationship with Russia,” she said, adding that a senior Chinese official had told her that geopolitics and U.S. intransigence were driving Beijing’s approach to the relationship — not love of Russia.

Ms. Sun said China’s recent mediation of an initial diplomatic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran had boosted notions of China as a peacemaker. But that situation was entirely different than the Ukraine war — the two Middle Eastern nations had already been in talks for years to try to restart formal diplomacy, and China entered the picture as both sides reached for a deal. China is not a close partner of either country and has a very specific economic interest in preventing the two from escalating their hostilities — it buys large amounts of oil from both.

When Mr. Putin visited Mr. Xi in Beijing right before the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, their governments proclaimed a “no-limits” partnership in a 5,000-word statement. The two men saw each other again last September at a security conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Mr. Xi has not talked to Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, since the war began, much less asked for his perspective on peace talks.

Mr. Zelensky has said he would enter peace talks only if Mr. Putin withdrew his troops from Ukrainian territory. That includes the Crimean Peninsula, which the Russian military seized in 2014, and the Donbas region, where that same year Russian troops stoked a pro-Russia separatist insurgency.

Mr. Zelensky has said he would welcome a chance to speak with Mr. Xi, and some Ukrainian officials hold out hope that China will eventually exercise its leverage over Russia to get Mr. Putin to withdraw his troops. But China has not indicated it would make any such move.

On Thursday, Qin Gang, the foreign minister of China, spoke by phone with Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, and stressed that the warring sides should “resume peace talks” and “return to the track of political settlement,” according to a Chinese summary of the conversation.

In an interview with the BBC before Mr. Xi’s visit was announced, Mr. Kuleba said he believed China was neither ready to arm Russia nor bring about peace. “The visit to Moscow in itself is a message, but I don’t think it will have any immediate consequences,” he said.

Analysts in Washington concur. “I don’t think China can serve as a fulcrum on which any Ukraine peace process could move,” said Ryan Hass, a former U.S. diplomat to China and White House official who is a scholar at the Brookings Institution.

Mr. Hass added that China would have a role as part of a signing or guaranteeing group for any eventual peace deal and would be critical to Ukraine’s reconstruction. “I believe Zelensky understands this, which is why he has been willing to exercise so much patience with China and with Xi personally,” he said.

European officials have had varying attitudes toward China, and some prioritize preserving trade ties with Beijing. But China’s alignment with Russia throughout the war has spurred growing suspicion and hostility in many corners of Europe. On Friday, some officials reacted warily to the announcement of Mr. Xi’s trip to Moscow — they saw it as a further sign of China’s friendship if not alliance with Russia, as well as an effort by China to present itself as a mediator in the war.

Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, stressed the need for peace talks at the Munich Security Conference late last month before a stop in Moscow. He used language that appeared aimed at peeling European nations away from the United States.

“We need to think calmly, especially our friends in Europe, about what efforts should be made to stop the warfare; what framework should there be to bring lasting peace to Europe; what role should Europe play to manifest its strategic autonomy,” he said.

He suggested that Washington wanted the war to continue to further weaken Russia. “Some forces might not want to see peace talks materialize,” he said. “They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians or the harms on Europe. They might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself. This warfare must not continue.”

But China’s 12-point statement did not go over well in Europe. And many European officials, like their Ukrainian and American counterparts, are convinced that early talks on a peace settlement will be at the expense of Ukrainian sovereignty.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said China’s stance was anything but neutral.

“It is not a peace plan, but principles that they shared,” she said of China’s statement. “You have to see them against a specific backdrop. And that is the backdrop that China has taken sides, by signing for example an unlimited friendship right before Russia’s invasion in Ukraine started.”

China’s regular denunciations of NATO make European officials bristle. In its position paper, China said “the security of a region should not be achieved by strengthening or expanding military blocs” — a statement that supports Mr. Putin’s claim that he had to invade Ukraine because of threats that included NATO expansion.

The Chinese position “builds on a misplaced focus on the so-called ‘legitimate security interests and concerns’ of parties, implying a justification for Russia’s illegal invasion, and blurring the roles of the aggressor and the aggressed,” said Nabila Massrali, a spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy at the European Union.

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, put it more simply: “China doesn’t have much credibility,” especially because “they have not been able to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine.”

Edward Wong reported from Washington, and Steven Erlanger from Brussels. Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting from Washington.

Edward Wong is a diplomatic correspondent who has reported for The Times for more than 22 years, based in New York, Baghdad, Beijing and Washington. He received a Livingston Award and was on a team of Pulitzer Prize finalists for Iraq War coverage. He has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and a visiting professor of journalism at Princeton and U.C. Berkeley. More about Edward Wong

Steven Erlanger is the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe, based in Brussels. He previously reported from London, Paris, Jerusalem, Berlin, Prague, Moscow and Bangkok. More about Steven Erlanger