He said a second meeting, featuring Trump, Putin and Zelensky, would likely dig deeper into boundary issues. Zelensky has been adamant about not ceding territory that Russian forces occupy
DNA
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a deal on his war on Ukraine and that the threat of sanctions against Russia likely played a role in Moscow’s decision to seek a meeting.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin in Alaska tomorrow.
The US president said he is unsure whether an immediate ceasefire can be achieved, but expressed interest in brokering a peace agreement.
“I believe now, he’s convinced that he’s going to make a deal. He’s going to make a deal. I think he’s going to, and we’re going to find out,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio’s ‘The Brian Kilmeade Show’.
Trump also mentioned during the Fox interview that he has three locations in mind for a follow-up meeting with Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, though he noted that a second meeting is not guaranteed.
He said staying in Alaska for a three-way summit would be the easiest scenario.
“Depending on what happens with my meeting, I’m going to be calling up President Zelensky, and let’s get him over to wherever we’re going to meet,” Trump said.
He said a second meeting, featuring Trump, Putin and Zelensky, would likely dig deeper into boundary issues. Zelensky has been adamant about not ceding territory that Russian forces occupy.
“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, okay?” he said.
“But there will be a give and take as to boundaries, lands, etc, etc. The second meeting is going to be very, very, very important. This meeting sets up like a chess game. This [first] meeting sets up a second meeting, but there is a 25 per cent chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting,” he said.
He said it would be up to Putin and Zelensky to strike an agreement.
“I’m not going to negotiate their deal. I’m going to let them negotiate their deal,” he said.
Earlier today, Putin spoke to his most senior ministers and security officials as he prepared for a meeting with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, that could shape the endgame to the largest war in Europe since World War Two.
In televised comments, Putin said the US was “making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict”.
This was happening, Putin said, “in order to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole — if, by the next stages, we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons.”
His comments signalled that Russia will raise nuclear arms control as part of a wide-ranging discussion on security when he sits down with Trump.
