Trump-Putin meeting Highlights: Growing list of European leaders to join Zelensky for White House meeting

With Trump and Putin still far apart and uncertainty over what the outcome would be, Bloomberg has outlined three scenarios:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hoped New Delhi would contribute to efforts aimed at ending the war with Russia, as he wished India on its Independence Day.

Zelenskyy made the comments ahead of a summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Congratulating the people of India, President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Zelenskyy said, “This week we had a good, candid conversation with Prime Minister @narendramodi when I had an opportunity to personally convey my best wishes on this occasion.”

“Our nations share the experience of standing up for freedom and dignity, as well as the pursuit of peace and development,” the Ukrainian president wrote.

“We hope that India will contribute to efforts aimed at ending the war,” he added

A Russian government plane has landed in Anchorage, Alaska, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24.

It was certain whether Putin was on board. The plane departed from Russia’s Far Eastern town Magadan, where the Russian president was earlier on Friday.

Donald Trump has hailed a ‘wonderful talk’ with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and called him ‘highly respected’ hours befor meeting Russian president Putin.

‘He (Trump) has to show his determination in bringing Putin to the negotiating table with Zelenskyy and leaders of Europe,’ Deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine said.

Moscow’s forces are making a fresh bid to capture the strategic town of Pokrovsk in eastern Donetsk.

Battlefield tracker DeepState reports that Pokrovsk is now partially encircled.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed the gains, saying on X that his troops are “countering” and “increasing the pressure” on the “occupier.” He accused Moscow of trying to score military wins to strengthen its hand before the Alaska meeting between Putin and Trump.

Ahead of the Trump–Putin summit in Alaska which is focused on Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire, President Trump said, “We are going to do very well,” but he added he was prepared to walk away if necessary.

“We’re going for a meeting with President Putin in Alaska, and I think it’s going to work out very well,” Trump said.

“If it doesn’t, I’m going to head back home real fast,” he added.

When Fox News host Bret Baier asked, “If it doesn’t, you walk?” Trump replied, “I would walk.

While speaking to reporters on Air Force One , Trump made it clear that he wants to see Russia-Ukraine ceasefire at the earliest.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today,” he says.

“This is not to do with Europe,” he adds. “Europe’s not telling me what to do, but they’re going to be involved in the process, obviously, as well as Zelensky.”

He claims the US is not spending money on the war in Ukraine but making money instead, receiving “big, beautiful cheques” from NATO for supplying weapons.

“But I don’t care about that,” he says. “I’m in this to stop the killing.”

Ahead of the summit, Zelensky stated in a Telegram post, “Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to end the war. We hope for a strong American position,” he added. “Everything will depend on this,” referring to Trump-Putin meeting.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he held a “meaningful” discussion with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on achieving a “just and lasting peace for Ukraine” ahead of the Trump–Putin summit.

He stated that they explored ways to “enhance assistance to Ukraine, including long-term financial aid.”

Sybiha also spoke with Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, expressing gratitude for his stance that “there can be no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

In a separate conversation with Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, both agreed that “there must be no reward for the aggressor, as it would set a dangerous precedent for global stability.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that there is no indication Russia is seeking peace, as Putin and Trump travel to Alaska to discuss the war in Ukraine.

“On the day of the negotiations, they also kill people. That says a lot,” the Ukrainian president wrote on Telegram, as reported by BBC.

“The war continues,” he added. “It continues precisely because there is no order and no sign that Moscow is preparing to end it.”

Kirill Dmitriev, a Putin adviser, shared a 13-second clip on X of his encounter with a bear in the Alaskan wilderness. “Met a bear in Alaska before the US-Russia Summit,” Dmitriev wrote, adding a teddy bear emoji as a fluorish. “Hopefully a good sign,” he added with a smiley face emoji.

Russian presidential special representative Kirill Dmitriev told the RIA news agency that today’s talks are intended to restore Russia–US relations, extending beyond economic matters.

“The entire spectrum of relations will be discussed at the talks between the Russian Federation and the United States, not just Ukraine,” Dmitriev said.

Putin visited Russian-American cooperation memorial before departing for Alaska to meet Donald Trump. The monument, showing Soviet and US pilots captured mid-handshake beside an aircraft wing, honors the Alaska–Siberia air route, which delivered around 8,000 US Lend-Lease combat planes to the Soviet front from 1942 to 1945.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says Trump-Putintalks could last six to seven hours, compared to about two hours at their previous summit in Helsinki.

During an interview with MSNBC this morning, former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba questioned whether Russia is truly ready to end the war.

“Is ceasefire an attainable goal? Yes, it is. Is the end to the war in Ukraine attainable at this point? No, it is not,” Kuleba told “Morning Joe.”

“Even if there is a pause in the form of a ceasefire, there is a wide understanding that it will only be a pause,” he added.

“The conversation itself is a good sign and it needs to be continued because Ukrainians, they keep fighting and they will keep fighting,” Kuleba said.

“But it is also true to say that Ukrainians are exhausted and we all need a chance for peace to secure,” he added.

Former Vice President Mike Pence posted on X, stating, “Praying for President Trump to stand strong in Alaska today.” He added, “A ceasefire, followed by a just and lasting peace, will only come through American strength.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state TV correspondent Pavel Zarubin that Trump will greet Putin at the steps of the Russian president’s aircraft when he arrives in Alaska

Pentagon has reported that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine are headed to Alaska for the summit today.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that he spoke to the president of Belarus, a key Putin ally, about the release of political prisoners.

“I had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. The purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners,” he wrote.

“We are also discussing the release of 1,300 additional prisoners. Our conversation was a very good one. We discussed many topics, including President Putin’s visit to Alaska. I look forward to meeting President Lukashenko in the future,” Trump added.

Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said the two presidents will greet each other on the tarmac in Alaska upon Putin’s arrival.

“There will be a precise departure from Magadan to Anchorage, as the President must land exactly at 11 a.m. local time and be met at the plane by President Trump,” Peskov said in Russian.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump also spoke about the possibility of security guarantees for Ukraine, telling reporters that it was a “maybe.”  “Along with Europe and other countries, not in the form of NATO,” he added. “Because that’s not going to, you know, there are certain things that aren’t going to happen. But yeah, along with Europe, there’s possibility” of security guarantees.

Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country is “counting on America.”

“This meeting should open up a real path toward a just peace and a substantive discussion between leaders in a trilateral format, Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian side,” he posted on X.

“It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America.”

Trump told select reporters on Air Force One that he will let Ukraine decide whether to engage in territorial swaps with Russia. his goal was to get the two sides to start a negotiation.

Trump added, “It actually hurts him, but in his (Putin’s) mind that helps him make a better deal if they can continue the killing,” he said.

The US president said Putin wants to do business with US as Russian economy is weak.

“He’s a smart guy, been doing it for a long time, but so have I … we get along, there’s a good respect level on both sides, and I think, you know, something’s going to come of it,” he said.

Trump said it was a good sign that Putin was bringing business executives with him from Russia, but said no deals could be made until the war was settled.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov wears a T-shirt CCCP (USSR) at his arrival in Alaska.

President Trump spoke optimistically about the Alaska Summit from Air Force One en route to Alaska to meet with President Putin.

Before his direct meeting with Trump, Putin praised his Donald Trump’s “sincere efforts” to end the war with Ukraine.

Trump on Friday said that he will discuss ‘territorial swap’ with Russian President, Vladimir Putin. “They will be discussed, but I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision, and I think they’ll make a proper decision. “

“But I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine,” Trump says, adding that if he weren’t president Putin would take all of Ukraine, adding, “but he is not going to do it”.

Trump and Putin are expected to be accompanied by high-powered delegations when they meet in Alaska.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that the two leaders would meet one-on-one first, followed by a lunch with their delegations.

Donald Trump’s Delegation:

Vladimir Putin’s Delegation:

US President Donald Trump has officially departed Washington, DC on his way to Alaska, to meet with Vladimir Putin.

Trump has called it a ‘HIGH STAKES!!!’ meeting before he took off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

In a briefing with the reporters he stated, “If I were not president, in my opinion, he would much rather take over all of Ukraine, but I am president and Putin will not mess around with me.”