US President Donald Trump declared Thursday that he would not be intimidated by Russian leader Vladimir Putin ahead of a high-stakes summit, stressing that Ukraine would be part of any agreement concerning its future.
Putin is set to arrive in Alaska on Friday at Trump’s invitation, marking his first visit to a Western nation since ordering the 2022 invasion of Ukraine a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
With Russia making battlefield advances, the Kremlin confirmed the two leaders would meet one-on-one, fueling concerns among European leaders that Putin might pressure Trump into accepting a settlement on Kyiv’s terms.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said, “I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me.”
“I’ll know within the first few minutes whether we’re going to have a good meeting or a bad one,” Trump continued. “If it’s bad, it’ll be over quickly. If it’s good, we could see peace in the near future.” He estimated the summit had a one-in-four chance of failing.
Trump has previously expressed admiration for Putin and faced backlash after the 2018 Helsinki summit, where he appeared to side with the Russian leader over US intelligence assessments regarding Moscow’s election interference.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the Alaska meeting, has criticized it as a reward for Putin and rejected Trump’s calls to cede territory.
Trump promised not to finalize any deal with Putin alone, and said he hoped to hold a three-way summit with Zelensky, possibly immediately afterwards in Alaska.
“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal.
And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up. But you know, to a certain extent, it’s not a bad term,” Trump told Fox News Radio.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters any future deal needed also to ensure “security guarantees” for Ukraine.
But Trump has previously backed Russia’s stance in ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine.
– Shifting Trump tone –
Trump had boasted that he could end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House in January.
But his calls to Putin — and intense pressure on Zelensky to accept concessions — have failed to move the Russian leader and Trump has warned of “very severe consequences” if Putin keeps snubbing his overtures.
The talks are set to begin at 11:30 am (1930 GMT) Friday at the Elmendorf Air Force Base, a major US military installation in Alaska that has been crucial in monitoring Russia.
Zelensky met in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who vowed solidarity, a day after receiving support in Berlin.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Putin on Friday to seize the “opportunity” of a ceasefire.
“The goal must be a summit also attended by President Zelensky” where “a ceasefire must be agreed”, he said in a statement, adding that Trump “can now take a major step toward peace”.
Russia has made major gains on the ground ahead of the summit.
Ukraine on Thursday issued a mandatory evacuation of families with children from the eastern town of Druzhkivka and four nearby villages near an area where Russia made a swift breakthrough.
Mixed views on diplomacy
Diplomacy since Russia’s invasion has largely failed to secure agreements beyond swaps of prisoners.
Russia said Thursday it had returned 84 prisoners to Ukraine in exchange for an equal number of Russian POWs.
The war has proved divisive in the United States, with a Pew Research Center poll finding that 59 percent of Americans lacked confidence in Trump’s wisdom on the issue.
Anchorage, nestled under mountains, bore few indications it was the center of global attention except for signs denouncing Putin put up on downtown streets, where people gave mixed opinions of the summit.
“I think it’s a travesty to invite a war criminal like Putin to the United States. My primary concern is that he’s going to negotiate away everything and it’s not going to be possible to have a peaceful solution,” said Jay Ahuja, 62, a retiree from North Carolina.
But Kimberly Brown, a 63-year-old retiree from Ohio, said Alaska was a “perfect place” for the summit.
“I just think that Trump is the best person to negotiate world peace.”
#Trump #vows #stand #firm #ahead #Putin #summit
