White House names Anchorage as location for Trump-Putin peace summit
Donald Trump has revealed that his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place in Anchorage, Alaska.
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Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that the two world leaders would be meeting in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, on Friday.
"President Trump is determined to try and end this war and stop the killing," she insisted.
"As the president has said over and over again, his strong preference will always be for peace and partnership whenever those outcomes can be achieved.
"There is no leader in the world right now who has been more committed to preventing wars or ending them than President Trump."
The US President previously said says he will try to "get some territory back" for Ukraine when he meets with the Russian leader.
But Trump has warned there is likely to be "some land-swapping" to achieve peace - a claim which Zelenskyy has strongly denied.
Meanwhile President Zelenskyy, who is the third key player in any potential ceasefire resolution, has seemingly been sidelined from the upcoming talks.
Read More: Trump confirms Zelenskyy will not attend key peace summit with Putin in Alaska
"There’s some swapping, it’s quite complicated," Trump said, as he took questions from the media on the subject of peace talks.
"There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both."
The Oval Office display saw Trump confirm the long-awaited meeting - just days after special envoy Steve Witkoff visited the Kremlin to discuss a potential ceasefire.
If the proposals go ahead, it would mark the first meeting between a Russian and US leader since Putin met with Joe Biden in Geneva, in June 2021.
The announcement comes as JD Vance met with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, insisting the UK was on a "very dark path" towards losing free speech.
Mr Vance landed with his wife Usha and their three children in London before heading to Chevening, the Foreign Secretary's 17th Century estate in Kent.
The Vice President added that the West is "censoring rather than engaging" with opposing opinions.
"I believe Putin and Zelenskyy both want peace," Trump insisted on Friday, when asked whether a ceasefire was possible in Ukraine.
Trump also went on to claim that his mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the "sixth" conflict he has averted since he came to power.
Speaking at length about his peacekeeping achievements, Trump added: "It could have been a world war - I stopped that."
"If I didn't come along, with a talented group of people... I think Russia-Ukraine would have had a very high degree [of being] even a world war."
The US President's claim triggered a flurry of questions from the media on the potential of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meanwhile, Friday marked day 200 of Donald Trump's presidency, with the leader asked whether he believed peace was possible.
"We have a shot at it," the US President insisted.
Asked whether he was waiting on the date of the Nobel Peace Prize announcement in the hopes of receiving such an award, Trump said that he was of "certain persuasion" that meant "no matter what I do, I won't get it".
However the US President went on to add that he "loves saving lives".
"When I came [to power], I said 'this thing is really bad'," Trump added of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
The comments from Trump come as David Lammy and JD Vance discussed matters of international interest during the VP's family holiday to England on Friday.
Vance said the UK and US have disagreements about Britain's plan to recognise Palestine but have a shared goal of resolving the crisis in the Middle East.
"We may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal, and we'll talk about that today," he told reporters.
Vance also stressed that the US has no plans to recognise a Palestinian state as the UK does, saying he didn't know what recognition meant "given the lack of a functional government there."