Following a meeting on Thursday with top government officials on the summit, Putin said in a short video released by the Kremlin that the Trump administration was making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities” and to “reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved”.
Putin also suggested “long-term conditions of peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole”, could be reached under an agreement with the US on nuclear arms control.
In Washington, Trump said there was a 25 per cent chance that the summit would fail, but he also floated the idea that, if the meeting succeeds, he could bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting.
In a radio interview with Fox News, Trump also said he might be willing to stay in Alaska longer, depending on what happens with Putin.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy and other European leaders worked to ensure their interests are taken into account when Trump and Putin meet in Anchorage.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Zelenskyy to London on Thursday in a show of British support for Ukraine a day before the critical Trump-Putin meeting. The two embraced warmly outside Starmer’s offices at 10 Downing Street without making any comments, and Zelenskyy departed about an hour later.
Zelenskyy’s trip to the British capital came a day after he took part in virtual meetings from Berlin with Trump and the leaders of several European countries. Those leaders said that Trump had assured them that he would make a priority of trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he meets with Putin.
While some European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, praised Wednesday’s video conference with Trump as constructive, uncertainty remained over how the US leader — whose rhetoric toward both Zelenskyy and Putin has evolved dramatically since retaking office this year — would conduct negotiations in the absence of any other interested parties.
Both Zelenskyy and the Europeans have worried that the bilateral US-Russia summit would leave them and their interests sidelined, and that any conclusions could favor Moscow and leave Ukraine and Europe’s future security in jeopardy.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov tamped down expectations for any breakthroughs from the Friday summit, saying there were no plans to sign documents and that it would be a “big mistake” to predict the results of the negotiations, according to Russian news outlet Interfax.
The Kremlin on Thursday said the meeting between Trump and Putin would begin at 11.30am on Friday (5.30am Saturday AEST).
Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Trump and Putin will first sit down for a one-on-one meeting followed by a meeting between the two delegations. Then talks will continue over “a working breakfast”. A joint news conference would follow.
Trump contradicted the Kremlin, saying that no decisions have been made about holding a news conference with Putin. The uncertainty reflects just how much about the summit, including its schedule, remains unsettled.
Ukraine’s territorial integrity
Starmer said on Wednesday that the Alaska summit could be a path to a ceasefire in Ukraine, but he also alluded to European concerns that Trump may strike a deal that forces Ukraine to cede territory to Russia. He warned that Western allies must be prepared to step up pressure on Russia if necessary.
During a call Wednesday among leaders of countries involved in the “coalition of the willing” — those who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv — Starmer stressed that any ceasefire deal must protect the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine.
“International borders cannot be, and must not be changed by force,” he said.
Kyiv has long insisted that safeguards against future Russian attacks provided by its Western allies would be a precondition for achieving a durable end to the fighting. Yet many Western governments have been hesitant to commit military personnel.
Countries in the coalition, which includes France and the UK, have been trying for months to secure US security backing, should it be required.
Following Wednesday’s virtual meetings, Macron said Trump told the assembled leaders that while NATO must not be part of future security guarantees, “the United States and all the parties involved should take part”.
“It’s a very important clarification that we have received,” Macron said.
Trump did not reference any US security commitments during his comments to reporters on Wednesday.
Some Ukrainians are sceptical
With another high-level meeting on their country’s future on the horizon, some Ukrainians expressed scepticism about the summit’s prospects.
Oleksandra Kozlova, 39, who works at a digital agency in Kyiv, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she believes Ukrainians “have already lost hope” that meaningful progress can be made toward ending the war.
“I don’t think this round will be decisive,” she said.
“There have already been enough meetings and negotiations promising us, ordinary people, that something will be resolved, that things will get better, that the war will end. Unfortunately, this has not happened, so personally I don’t see any changes coming.”
Anton Vyshniak, a car salesman in Kyiv, said Ukraine’s priority now should be saving the lives of its military service members, even at the expense of territorial concessions.
“At the moment, the most important thing is to preserve the lives of male and female military personnel. After all, there are not many human resources left,” he said.
“Borders are borders, but human lives are priceless.”
Russia and Ukraine trade strikes
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukraine had secured the release of 84 people from Russian captivity, including both soldiers and civilians. Those freed included people held by Russia since 2014, 2016 and 2017, as well as soldiers who had defended the now Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday that it too had received 84 soldiers as part of a prisoner exchange.
In other developments, Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Sumy region overnight Wednesday resulted in numerous injuries, Ukrainian regional officials said. A missile strike on a village in the Seredyna-Budska community wounded a seven-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man, according to regional governor Oleh Hryhorov. The girl was hospitalised in stable condition.
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged several apartment buildings in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near the border with Ukraine, where 13 civilians were wounded, according to acting governor of the region, Yuri Slyusar. Two of the wounded were hospitalised in serious condition, Slyusar said.
