Trump predicts 25% chance of ‘bad meeting' with Putin in Alaska on Ukraine

Yahoo

2 days ago

President Trump Thursday said he has high hopes of making progress to a Ukraine peace deal at a Friday afternoon summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska, but admitted there is a 1 in 4 chance of a 'bad meeting.'
'There is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting, in which case I'll return to run the country,' he said in a radio interview.
'If it's a bad meeting, I'm not calling anybody. I'm going home,' Trump added. 'But if it's a good meeting, I'm going to call (Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) and the European leaders.'
Trump said his main goals will be to convince Putin to agree to a ceasefire and to pave the way to a three-man summit with Zelenskyy, which he teased could take place very soon after the Anchorage sit-down and might even also take place in Alaska.
Trump's remarks came after Putin praised his counterpart for 'energetic and sincere' efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
With both sides seeking to spin expectations ahead of the Anchorage sit-down, Putin gathered a group of top advisers to the Kremlin to hail the chances of a breakthrough on Ukraine and a host of other issues.
'The (Trump) administration is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the fighting, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict,' Putin said.
The summit is scheduled to kick off at 11:30 am Anchorage time, which is 3:30 pm in New York.
The two leaders plan to hold a joint press conference after the meeting as well as a lunch with the two nations' delegations.
It's the first meeting between Putin and an American president since he launched his invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022, and the first time he and Trump have met since 2019.
Even as he talked up the chances of progress, Putin has not even hinted at any retreat from his hard-line demands, such as gobbling up four Ukrainian provinces, including land it hasn't yet seized on the battlefield.
He sought to dangle the possibility of progress on nuclear weapons and economic issues, which he may use an enticement to get Trump to make further concessions on Ukraine.
The Kremlin strongman said he hoped the 'huge, and unfortunately hitherto untapped, potential' of expanded economic ties between the U.S. and Russia would be on the agenda along with Ukraine.
Putin wants to end Russia's exile from the Western financial system following economic sanctions imposed by Washington, the European Union and others. Trump has not yet lifted these punishments but says he wants to end Russia's economic pariah status.
Trump said Wednesday that there will be 'severe consequences' if Putin does not agree to end the war at the summit, but refused to elaborate.
He's moved ahead with 'secondary sanctions' against India for buying Russian oil but has put threatened measures against other Moscow trading partners on hold at least until after the Anchorage meeting.
The decision to grant Putin the face-to-face meeting with Trump is controversial with administration critics and Western allies, who fear the wily Kremlin strongman will use his skills as a master manipulator to bamboozle Trump.
Ukraine and European allies are nervous about being left completely out of the meeting, even though Trump has vowed he won't cave on key issues like surrendering land for peace and says he wants to broker a follow-up summit including Zelenskyy.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer embraced Zelenskyy in London on Thursday in a show of British support for the embattled ally and aides said they discussed security guarantees for Kyiv in any possible peace deal.
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