US President Donald Trump warned after speaking to European leaders ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would impose “very serious consequences” if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire deal later this week.
Trump also said that after being urged by allies to push for a summit, he hopes to use Friday’s meeting to hold a “second quick meeting” with Ukrainian leader Zelensky.
Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday: “There’s a very good chance that we’ll have a second meeting, and it will be more productive than the first one.” He also added that he was “preparing for the second meeting.”
The president’s remarks suggest that he wants to temper expectations of a comprehensive peace deal with Putin at the summit in Anchorage, Alaska, while also responding to concerns from European partners who have urged him to prioritize direct talks between Putin and Zelensky.
Those who are skeptical of Trump’s efforts are worried that the US president, who has said that the final agreement will include territorial exchanges, might agree to peace terms proposed by Putin that are unfavorable to Ukraine.
According to multiple people familiar with the talks, Trump assured leaders in the call that he would not negotiate territorial issues with Putin and would urge the Russian leader to meet with Zelensky. He restated his public declaration that he would soon know whether the Russian president was serious about negotiations and said the US was willing to offer some security guarantees to Kyiv, but not including full NATO membership.
French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after a phone call on Wednesday that any decision on territorial concessions would have to be made by Ukraine and that “no serious plan for territorial exchanges has been put forward today.”
Trump made it very clear that the United States hopes to reach a ceasefire at the Alaska meeting, Macron told reporters in Brégançon, France. “We reaffirmed that until a ceasefire and lasting peace are achieved, we must continue to support Ukraine. By ‘we’, I mean Europeans and Americans.”
Trump and US Vice President JD Vance joined European leaders from Germany, France, Poland and Italy, as well as Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in a roughly one-hour meeting. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also attended the meeting. She posted on social media that the two leaders had a “very good call” and “strengthened common ground on Ukraine.”
Trump also gave a similar account of the call, saying he would give it a “10” and promised to brief Zelensky and European leaders immediately after the call. Trump also said that if he thought Putin was insincere, he would be willing to give up the call.
According to a previous report by Bloomberg, Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede its entire eastern Donbas region and Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Putin’s forces in 2014, as a condition for ending the ceasefire and negotiating a lasting solution.
Such an outcome would require the Kyiv government to cede parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces that are still under its control, and would give Russia a military victory that its forces have failed to achieve in over a decade.
Zelensky told reporters earlier this week that he would not cede the Donbas region and added that the Kremlin might use it as a springboard for future offensives. European countries have made it clear to the United States that they will not formally recognize the territory illegally occupied by Russia.
