Trump says Putin 'will make a deal' after crunch talks in Alaska - as he lines up second meeting to include Zelenskyy
Donald Trump has claimed Vladimir Putin will “make a deal” on the future of Ukraine in a second meeting following a crucial US-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday.
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The US president said the deal could be struck following his initial meeting with Putin at a follow-up trilateral summit involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The first meeting in Alaska will not involve Mr Zelenskyy - who has so far been excluded from US-Russia talks on Ukraine.
“This meeting sets up the second meeting. The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal,” Mr Trump told Fox News Radio.
However, Mr Trump warned there is a 25 percent chance the first meeting doesn’t end well.
He indicated there would be “give and take” on boundaries and land in the follow-up meeting, adding that Friday will be like a “chess game”.
Read more: 'Putin is bluffing', Zelenskyy warns Trump ahead of US-Russia talks in Alaska
The US president also suggested the option of hitting Russia with additional sanctions if the summit does not go as planned.
Earlier, Mr Trump suggested that “three different locations” are on the table for the second meeting, including potentially “staying in Alaska.”
“If it’s a bad meeting, I’m not calling anybody — I’m going home. … But if it’s a good meeting, I’m going to call President Zelensky and the European leaders,” Mr Trump said.
It comes as Mr Zelenskyy was welcomed to Downing Street by Keir Starmer today ahead of Friday’s summit.
Neither Sir Keir nor Mr Zelenskyy have been invited to tomorrow's more significant meeting - the first between the two presidents since 2019.
During a call with the US president and European allies on Wednesday, Sir Keir praised Mr Trump for his work to bring forward a "viable" chance of an end to the war.
But concerns have been raised over Mr Zelenskyy's exclusion from the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin, which is set to take place in Alaska on Friday.
Speaking on Wednesday, Sir Keir said: "This meeting on Friday that President Trump is attending is hugely important.
"As I've said personally to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven't got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire.
"And now we do have that chance, because of the work of that the president has put in."
Sir Keir said the UK could impose further sanctions on Russia if the Kremlin fails to engage, and that Britain is already working on its next package of measures targeting Moscow.
"We're ready to support this, including from the plans we've already drawn up to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased," he told allies.
Sir Keir and European leaders have repeatedly said discussions about Ukraine should not happen without it, amid concerns the country is being sidelined in negotiations about its own future.