“I would like to do it almost immediately, and we’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they’d like to have me there.”
The high-stakes talks come with Trump seeking to broker an end to Russia’s nearly three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine, and Zelenskyy and his European allies have urged the Republican to push for a ceasefire.
A stepped-up Russian offensive, and the fact that Zelenskyy has not been invited to the Anchorage meeting on Friday, have heightened fears that Trump and Putin could strike a deal that forces painful concessions on Ukraine.
Trump said Russia would face “very severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to end the war after Friday’s meeting, without elaborating.