US President Donald Trump has voiced scepticism about his chances of persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop targeting civilians in Ukraine during their upcoming summit in Alaska.
When asked if he believed he could convince Putin to end such attacks, Trump responded, “Well, I’ll tell you what, I’ve had that conversation with him. I’ve had a lot of good conversations with him. Then I go home and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home or an apartment building, and people are lying dead in the streets. So I guess the answer to that is no… I want to end the war. It’s Biden’s war, but I want to end it. I’ll be very proud to end this war, along with the five other wars I ended. But I guess the answer to that is probably no.”
Speaking at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Wednesday (local time), Trump also warned of “very severe consequences” if Russia refuses to end the war after the August 15 meeting. He did not specify the nature of those consequences.
The Alaska talks are aimed at exploring a potential ceasefire and kickstarting peace negotiations. Trump has floated the idea of a second summit, this time involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, if the initial meeting shows progress.
“If the first meeting goes okay, we will have a quick second one… between President Putin, President Zelenskyy, and me, if they would like to have me there,” Trump said, adding that the follow-up would only happen if he received satisfactory answers from Putin.
“There may be no second meeting because if I feel it’s not appropriate… then we are not going to have a second meeting,” he concluded.