President Trump departed Washington just after sunrise Friday, heading west for his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in years and one that will set the tone for the future of peace talks in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The meeting at an Air Force base just outside Anchorage, Alaska will be Putin’s first trip to the U.S. in a decade.
The leaders are set to sit down for a one-on-one talk around 3:30 p.m. EDT, followed by a larger gathering and then a press conference.
Trump on Thursday said he’ll know minutes into the summit whether it’ll be “a good meeting or a bad meeting,” suggesting that the latter would end talks between the two leaders “very quickly.”
President Trump said Friday he wouldn’t be negotiating for Ukraine at his summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while claiming the Russian leader would have taken all of Ukraine if he wasn’t in the Oval Office.
“Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I wasn’t president, he would right now be taking all of Ukraine,” Trump told reporters, speaking from Air Force One en route to Alaska.
“But he’s not going to do it.”
Asked if territory swaps were on the table, Trump said that would be up to Kyiv.
“They’ll be discussed, but I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision. And I think they’ll make a proper decision. But I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I’m here to get them at a table,” Trump said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will notably be left out of the imminent U.S.-Russia meeting, but Trump has floated a follow-up with all three leaders.
Trump has forecast a “25 percent chance” his talks with Putin aren’t successful, and described his goal for the Friday meeting as being to “set the table for the next meeting.”
