Ahead of Alaska summit, Trump says Putin, Zelensky 'will make peace'
The summit is scheduled for August 15 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.
"I think President Putin will make peace and President Zelensky will make peace," Trump told reporters.
Asked if the US is prepared to offer Putin access to rare minerals as an incentivise to end the war, Trump replied, "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 that we're going to save a lot of lives."
"But what I'm really doing this for is to save thousands of soldiers a week," he added.
Looking beyond the Alaska talks, Trump outlined plans for a follow-up meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, possibly joined by European leaders. He called that session potentially more important than the first.
"We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it's gonna be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're gonna have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, me, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along, maybe not," he said.
"We're going to see what happens. And I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelensky will make peace. We'll see if they can get along. And if they can, it'll be great," he added.
Referring to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as "Biden's war," Trump said, "It would have never happened if I were president. This war would have never occurred under my administration. But now, millions of people have been killed."
"And I'm there for one reason: to see if I can solve. This was Biden's war. This is in my war. I want to see if I can stop the killing," he added.
Earlier, Trump said he would know "in the first two minutes" whether a deal can be struck. He also expressed optimism about the possibility of normal trade between the two countries.
When asked if he sees a time when there could be normal trade between the US and Russia, Trump said, "I do. Russia has a very valuable piece of land. If Vladimir Putin would go toward business instead of toward 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."
"We're going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin. And at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made," he added.
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