Trump says Putin ready to make a peace deal with Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Aug. 14 that Russian President Vladimir Putin will come to their Aug. 15 summit in Alaska ready to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
"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," Trump told Fox Radio. "And we're going to find out, I'm going to know very quickly."
The talks in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Trump returned to office and Putin's first visit to the U.S. in a decade.
The White House has billed the talks as part of Washington's effort to end the war, though Ukrainian and European officials have expressed concern over Kyiv's exclusion from the summit.
Trump said his goal is to move toward a trilateral meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, noting that "three different locations" were under consideration, including Alaska.
Speaking later from the White House, Trump indicated that European leaders might also participate in upcoming peace talks.
"We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we will be having," he said.
"We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along, maybe not."
While early reporting suggested Zelensky might join the Aug. 15 talks, Trump later confirmed the Ukrainian president would not attend. Zelensky has previously voiced readiness for a three-side format, while Putin has said more groundwork is needed before such a meeting.
Asked if he would offer economic incentives to Russia, Trump declined to give details. He has previously described the summit as a "feel-out" session to gauge Moscow's readiness for peace.
On Aug. 13, Zelensky joined Trump and European leaders in a video call during which Trump pledged to prioritize a ceasefire in talks with Putin. The U.S. president has signaled that any peace agreement would involve "land swaps," a stance that has raised alarms in Kyiv.
A Ukrainian Presidential Office source earlier told the Kyiv Independent that Russia's proposal would require Kyiv to withdraw from Ukrainian-controlled parts of partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in exchange for a Russian pullback from parts of Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts.
Putin has also demanded Ukraine's withdrawal from the Ukrainian-controlled parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts and a ban on NATO membership as preconditions for peace.
The Ukrainian president has rejected handing any new territory into Russian occupation, urging a ceasefire as the first step toward negotiations, a stance supported by Kyiv's European allies.
Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, and in 2022, it further annexed sections of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts after conducting illegitimate referenda.
