The president of the USA, Donald Trump, declared on Thursday that any agreement to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be reached at a second trilateral meeting after the summit in Alaska scheduled for Friday. This summit will also involve Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as reported by Fox News Radio.
Trump explained that the main objective of the summit in Alaska with Putin is to prepare for the upcoming trilateral meeting. He particularly stressed: “The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that will be the meeting in which they make a deal. And I do not want to use the word ‘things’. But, in a sense, it is not a bad term, okay?”
In further remarks, Trump added that the probability of Friday’s meeting with Putin not being successful stands at one in four, estimating a 25 percent chance of failure. He stated, “This meeting is used to prepare the second meeting, but there is a 25 percent possibility that this first meeting will not be successful,” in his interview.
According to Trump, the initial meeting in Alaska aims to establish the groundwork for the next trilateral meeting, focusing on possible solutions to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He emphasized the importance of the second appointment for making concrete progress on an agreement between the parties involved.
On the eve of the summit, Vladimir Putin praised the “energetic and sincere” efforts of the USA to end the fighting in Ukraine. He said during an extraordinary meeting with senior officials from the government and Kremlin, “The US performs, in my view, very energetic and sincere efforts to end military actions and the crisis in Ukraine.”
Putin also emphasized the necessity of reaching “an agreement that responds to the interests of all parties involved”, aiming for long-lasting peace both between their countries and across Europe and the world. He noted that this goal is achievable only if an understanding is reached regarding offensive strategic armament control, referring to the START III treaty, which is set to expire in 2026.
Putin mentioned that this meeting with top officials aimed to update the current state of negotiations with Ukraine and the bilateral discussions held with the Kyiv delegation. Images shared by Russian media depicted the presence of foreign ministers, defense, finance officials, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Valeri Gerasimov, who will accompany the president to Alaska.
According to the Kremlin, the meeting with Trump is set to begin this Friday at 11:30 local time (19:30 GMT) at the military base Elmendorf-Richardson, located near Anchorage. The agenda includes an initial one-on-one meeting between the two leaders, followed by a working breakfast with delegations comprising five senior officials each. After the conversations, both will hold a joint press conference, after which the Russian delegation will promptly leave US territory.
In relation to these events, Zelensky has warned that Kyiv will not accept any proposal that does not have its consent. This position has garnered the full support of the principal European leaders, who maintain that any solution must guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.