Ahead of his Friday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, US President Donald Trump voiced strong confidence that the Kremlin leader is now ready to pursue peace in the ongoing conflict
with Ukraine. The high-stakes summit is scheduled for August 15 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, where Trump says he hopes to make tangible progress toward ending the war.
“I think President Putin will make peace and President Zelensky will make peace,” Trump told reporters, underscoring his belief that both sides are open to a resolution. When asked whether the United States is prepared to offer Putin access to rare minerals as an incentive to end the fighting, Trump responded, “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.” He added, “But what I’m really doing this for is to save thousands of soldiers a week.”
Looking beyond the Alaska summit, Trump laid out plans for a second, follow-up meeting involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, potentially alongside European leaders. He suggested that this next meeting could be even more critical than the initial round of talks.
“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.”
Trump again referred to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as “Biden’s war,” insisting it would never have happened had he been in the White House at the time. “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,” he said. “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.”
Earlier, the president said he would be able to gauge the prospects for a deal almost immediately after the talks begin. “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 said. Trump also suggested there could be a time in the future when normal trade between Washington and Moscow is restored, if Russia shifts its focus away from aggression.
When asked whether he could envision a return to normal commercial relations with Russia, Trump replied, “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.”
The Alaska summit will mark one of Trump’s most high-profile diplomatic engagements since returning to office, with both US allies and global observers closely watching to see whether his personal diplomacy can deliver a breakthrough in one of the world’s most dangerous conflicts.
