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The US president has been answering questions on Ukraine during a press conference at the White House on Thursday evening
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Donald Trump has said there is a “25 per cent chance” that his crunch Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin “will not be a successful meeting”.
The main aim of tomorrow’s meeting is to set up talks between Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Trump told Fox News Radio, adding that he has three locations in mind for such a meeting.
The US president, who is gearing up to meet his Russian counterpart for the first time since 2018, said he is unsure whether an immediate ceasefire will be achieved tomorrow.
But despite his concerns, Mr Trump also told Fox News Radio that he believes Putin is “going to make a deal” eventually.
Friday’s talks between the presidents will include a one-on-one meeting, a bilateral lunch with both delegations and a press conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Earlier on Thursday, Putin praised Mr Trump’s “sincere efforts” towards ending the war in Ukraine, telling Kremlin officials the US is making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the fighting”.
The comments came after UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer hosted Volodymyr Zelensky at Downing Street for talks, greeting the Ukrainian president with a warm hug outside his residence.
Donald Trump has floated the idea of inviting some European leaders to a potential second meeting with Putin, which would include Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump reiterates that he is meeting Putin “to save thousands of soldiers a week”,
Referring to tomorrow’s meeting, he said: “I think it’s going to be good”.
“But the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we’re having, we’re going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself and maybe we’ll bring some of the European leaders, maybe not.”
He once again claimed that the conflict was “Biden’s war” and said: “It never made sense, if I was president it would never have happened.”
Taking questions from reporters, Trump said that he believes that Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky “will make peace” to end the war in Ukraine.
Asked whether he is prepared to offer Putin access to rare minerals to incentivise him to end the war in Ukraine, he said: “We’re going to see what happens, we have a big meeting.
“I think it’s going to be very important for Russia, and it’s going to be very important for us that we’re going to save a lot of lives.”
He added: “I think Putin and Zelensky will get along, I hope they’ll get along.”
Donald Trump is currently giving a press conference at the White House, on the eve of his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
The US president is talking about the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, but he could take questions or divert to talk about the upcoming summit with Russia.
You can watch live here and we’ll be bringing you all the latest updates.
Russian state Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an official visit to Pyongyang, the Russian parliament said on Thursday.
Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, conveyed greetings from the Russian leader and thanked Kim for North Korea’s support of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Putin held a phone call with Kim on Tuesday and updated him on planned talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a good conversation with his Argentinian counterpart Javier Milei on Thursday.
“I informed about recent contacts with partners and stressed that our position is absolutely clear: Ukraine needs a just peace and reliable security guarantees. Javier is ready to make personal efforts toward this,” he said on X.
The leaders also discussed economy and agriculture.
The US secretary of state has warned that a solution to ending the fighting in Ukraine will take longer than one meeting in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Marco Rubio told reporters “there will have to be some conversation about security guarantees” in order to achieve peace.
He also said there will have to be discussions over “territorial disputes and claims, and what they’re fighting over”.
“All these things will be part of a comprehensive thing,” he added.
“I think the president’s hope is to achieve some stoppage of fighting so that those conversations can happen.”
There is no chance that tomorrow’s meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will produce a positive outcome for Ukraine, an expert on Russian and European security affairs has told The Independent.
“Anybody that states confidently what they’re going to see out of this meeting is making it up,” said Keir Giles, author of Who Will Defend Europe? An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent.
“There’s so many unpredictable factors. And the only thing that we can be fairly sure about is that there will be no good coming of this meeting, because Trump and Putin behind closed doors is always bad news.
“If we do see anything coming out of this, it is unlikely to be limited just to the ostensible purpose of the meeting, which is a ceasefire in Ukraine. There’s far more at stake,” he added.
The U.S. State Department and U.S. Treasury said on Thursday they are targeting Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex and its leaders with sanctions and are offering rewards up to $6 million for information leading to their arrests.
Garantex is allegedly used by cybercriminals and cybercrime organizations for money laundering, they said in a joint statement.
The exchange processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions between April 2019 and March 2025, according to the statement.
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