Ahead of Alaska summit, Trump says Putin, Zelensky 'will make peace'

Washington: US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism ahead of his high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, set to take place today at a military base in Alaska. Speaking to reporters before the summit, Trump said he believed both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were ready to pursue peace.

“I think President Putin will make peace and President Zelensky will make peace,” Trump stated, framing the discussions as a critical opportunity to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.

When asked whether the United States would offer Russia access to rare minerals as an incentive for peace, Trump responded cautiously: “We’re going to see what happens with our meeting. We have a big meeting. It’s going to be, I think, very important for Russia, and it’s going to be very important for us -- and important for us only because we’re going to save a lot of lives.”

He added, “What I’m really doing this for is to save thousands of soldiers a week.”

Looking beyond the Alaska summit, Trump also revealed plans for a follow-up meeting that would involve both President Zelenskyy and possibly European leaders. He described that second round of talks as potentially “more important than the first.”

“We’re going to have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a good meeting,” Trump said. “But the more important meeting will be the second one -- with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself, and maybe some of the European leaders.”

He continued: “We’re going to see what happens. I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelenskyy will make peace. We’ll see if they can get along. And if they can, it’ll be great.”

Trump, who has repeatedly blamed the Biden administration for the war, reiterated that the conflict would not have happened under his presidency. “This was Biden’s war. This is not my war,” he said. “I’m there for one reason: to see if I can stop the killing.”

Trump also commented that he would likely know “within the first two minutes” of the meeting whether a peace deal was possible. He went on to suggest a future where US-Russia trade relations could be normalised.

“I do [see normal trade],” Trump said. “Russia has a very valuable piece of land. If Vladimir Putin would go toward business instead of war… You know, it’s a warring nation. That’s what they do. They fight a lot of wars. A friend of mine said Russia is tough because they just keep on fighting.”