U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he thought Vladimir Putin was ready to make a deal on ending the war in Ukraine after the Russian president floated the prospect of a nuclear arms agreement on the eve of their summit in Alaska, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his European allies have intensified their efforts this week to prevent any deal between the U.S. and Russia emerging from Friday’s summit that leaves Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.
“I think he’s going to make a deal,” Trump said in a Fox News radio interview, adding that if the meeting went well he would call Zelenskiy and European leaders afterwards and that if it went badly he would not.
The aim of Friday’s talks with Putin is to set up a second meeting including Ukraine, Trump said, adding: “I don’t know that we’re going to get an immediate ceasefire.”
Putin earlier spoke to his most senior ministers and security officials as he prepared for the meeting with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday that could shape the endgame to the largest war in Europe since World War Two.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump confirmed that he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15.
With discussions expected to include a possible Ukraine land swap as part of efforts to end the ongoing war.
The announcement comes after Trump’s deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire passed without any new commitments.
Trump made the remarks at the White House on Friday while hosting leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan.
He said any breakthrough on Ukraine would be “very complicated” but might involve territorial exchanges.
“We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” he told reporters.
The idea of a Ukraine land swap has been met with strong resistance from Kyiv and its European allies.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said they will not accept any peace agreement that requires ceding territories occupied by Russia, including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
Putin, however, has insisted that any settlement must involve Ukraine formally relinquishing control over some of these areas.
He has also demanded that Western countries halt military aid to Kyiv and that Ukraine abandon its plans to join the NATO alliance.
The Alaska meeting will be the first direct engagement between Trump and Putin since Trump launched his push for a negotiated end to the war.
While the US president has framed the talks as a chance to “improve the situation for both sides,” the prospect of altering Ukraine’s borders is expected to spark intense international debate.
With just days to go before the talks, both supporters and critics are watching closely. For Ukraine, the outcome could define the future of its territorial integrity. For Trump, it may become one of the most politically charged foreign policy moves of his presidency.
