US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet each other next Friday in Alaska To discuss the future of the war in Ukraine.
Trump announced the 15 August meeting on social media and this was later confirmed by a spokesperson for Kremlin, who said that the location was “fairly logical” given the relative proximity from Alaska to Russia.
The spokesperson added that Trump was invited to a potential second peak in Russia.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine.
The announcement of the meeting came only a few hours after Trump had indicated that Ukraine might have to give up the territory to end the war, which began with the full invasion of Russia of his neighbor in February 2022.
“You look at territory that has been fought for three and a half years, many Russians have died. Many Ukrainians have died,” Trump said in the White House on Friday.
“It’s very complicated. We’re going to get something back, we’re going to switch.
The US president did not give any further details about what that proposal would look like.
However, BBC’s American partner CBS NewsThe quoting sources that are familiar with the discussions reports that the White House is trying to influence European leaders to accept an agreement in which Russia takes the entire Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine and retain the Crimea.
It would give up the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which are partially confiscated, as part of the proposed agreement, CBS reports.
Earlier on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Putin had proposed a similar arrangement as Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff during a recent meeting in Moscow.
It remains unclear whether Ukraine and European allies would agree to such a deal, given that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zensky and Putin will remain far apart about the circumstances for peace.
Zensky has dismissed any conditions for territorial concessions.
A higher official of the White House told CBS that the planning for the meeting of next Friday was fluent, and it was still possible that Zensky would be involved in a certain capacity.
Moscow has not succeeded in achieving a decisive breakthrough in his entire invasion, but covers around 20% of the territory of Ukraine. In the meantime, Ukrainian offensives have not reduced the Russian troops.
Three rounds of direct conversations between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul did not succeed in bringing the war closer, and the military and political conditions of Moscow for peace are seen by Kiev and his allies as the de facto capitulation of Ukraine.
The Russian demands include Ukraine that becomes a neutral state, dramatically reduces his army and leaving its NATO ambitions, as well as the elimination of Western sanctions imposed on Russia.
Moscow also wants Kyiv to withdraw his army from the four regions that partly occupied Russia in Southeast Ukraine and demobilizes its soldiers.
Trump, however, stated on Friday that the US had a “shot on” a trilateral peace agreement between the countries.
“European leaders want to see peace, President Putin, I believe, want to see peace, and Zensky wants to see peace,” he told reporters.
“President Zensky must get everything, everything he needs, because he has to prepare to sign something and I think he is working hard to get that done,” Trump said.
Last month, Trump admitted the BBC that he had thought a deal to end the war in Ukraine, four different times with Russia stood on the cards: “I am disappointed in him [Putin]But I’m not done with him. “
In recent weeks, he has imposed his position against the Kremlin paved and a deadline of Friday 8 August for Russia to agree with a cease -the fire in Ukraine or more radical sanctions.
But when the deadline approached, the economic threat was quickly overshadowed by plans for Trump and Putin to meet personally to discuss a potential peace agreement.
There was no announcement of further sanctions against Russia from the White House on Friday.
Trump and Putin spoke by telephone in February in the first direct exchange between the leaders since the full invasion of Russia.
The last time that an American president met Putin was in 2021, when Joe Biden met him at a top in Geneva, Switzerland.
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