White House downplays expectations for Trump-Putin meeting, calling it just a step toward peace
The president and his Russian counterpart are set to meet Friday for a hastily arranged sit-down in Alaska, giving Putin the honor of being welcomed onto American territory by an American president and bringing an end to the international isolation he has faced since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On Monday, Trump said he may well know whether Putin is truly interested in reaching an agreement to end the war he started within just two minutes of sitting down with the Russian leader.
Speaking to reporters during a press conference in the White House briefing room, he said: 'I may say, 'lots of luck, keep fighting,' or I may say we can make a deal.'
That deal, according to Trump, could involve swapping parcels of land between Russian and Ukrainian control in exchange for peace. It's an idea that has also been broached by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte as well. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected such an option on multiple occasions.
A White House official who spoke to Politico ahead of the summit said Putin, who met with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff last week, asked for the meeting with the president and suggested a solution to the conflict. However, White House officials are now saying that the meeting might not mean a concrete deal for peace.
'It may not be a viable plan, but there was something on paper, which shows progress,' the official said.
The official added that Trump saw Putin's willingness to meet as 'progress' and is willing to 'hear him out,' while a second White House official said Trump would use the meeting to 'gauge how serious Putin is about peace.'
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt similarly appeared to lower expectations when she was asked about Trump's outlook on the sit-down, calling it 'a listening exercise for the President' and acknowledging that Zelensky's absence would make it difficult if not impossible for any real solution to the conflict to emerge from the bilateral talks.
'Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the President to go and to get ... a more firm and better understanding of of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,' she said.
'The President inherited this conflict, and he is determined to end it. And it's a very complex and complicated situation.'
Leavitt also added that Trump ' hopes in the future there can be a trilateral meeting' between him, Putin and Zelensky to 'finally bring this conflict to an end' while claiming that Trump has 'really used every lever' and 'taken every measure to to achieve peace through a diplomatic solution.'
'I think the President of the United States getting in the room with the President of Russia, sitting face to face, rather than speaking over the telephone, will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed,' she said.
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