DUBLIN,Ireland Aug 11-US President Donald Trump has said he will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to return “some territory” to Ukraine when the two leaders meet in Alaska on Friday.
Describing the planned meeting as a “feel-out” session, Trump said he hoped to persuade Putin to end the war and hinted at the possibility of “swapping” or “changes in land”. It remains unclear what territory Russia might cede, and Kyiv has not laid claim to any Russian land.
“Russia’s occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We’re going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” Trump told reporters at a news conference.
Trump said he would brief European leaders if Putin made a “fair deal”, but stressed he would first speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “out of respect”.
“I’ll call him first… I’ll call him after, and I may say, ‘lots of luck, keep fighting,’ or I may say, ‘we can make a deal,’” Trump said. While claiming he “gets along” with Zelensky, the US president added he “very severely disagrees with what he has done”. Trump has previously blamed the Ukrainian leader for the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Alaska talks were announced last week, coinciding with Trump’s self-imposed deadline for Moscow to agree to a ceasefire or face new US sanctions.
Responding to news of the summit, Zelensky warned that any agreements reached without Kyiv’s participation would be “dead decisions”.
