US president Donald Trump said Thursday his Alaska summit with Russia鈥檚 Vladimir Putin could fail but was merely a prelude to a second, three-way meeting where the substantive dealmaking over the Ukraine war would happen.
Trump and his Russian counterpart will hold talks aimed at settling the Ukraine conflict at their landmark summit at a US air base outside Anchorage on Friday.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is not scheduled to take part but Trump has suggested there might be a second meeting involving both leaders if the first was successful.
鈥楾his meeting sets up the second meeting. The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that鈥檚 going to be a meeting where they make a deal,鈥� Trump told Fox News Radio.
鈥楢nd I don鈥檛 want to use the word 鈥榙ivvy鈥� things up. But you know, to a certain聽 extent, it鈥檚 not a bad term, okay?鈥�
A stepped-up Russian offensive and Zelensky鈥檚 exclusion from Friday鈥檚 meeting have heightened fears in Europe that Trump and Putin could strike a deal that forces painful concessions on Ukraine.
The US leader initially said there would be some 鈥榣and swapping going on,鈥� but appeared to have walked that back after speaking with European leaders on Wednesday.
But his remarks to Fox News Radio suggested he had not taken some kind of exchange of territory off the table.
He added that he saw a 鈥�25 per cent chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting.鈥�
Meanwhile, Russia said on Thursday its troops had captured two new settlements in eastern Ukraine.
The defence ministry said Russian forces captured the village of Iskra and the small town of Shcherbynivka in Ukraine鈥檚 Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in September 2022.
Shcherbynivka is near the mining town of Toretsk, captured by Russian troops in February, and Kostiantynivka 鈥� one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine.
The Russian army has accelerated its gains in recent months.
Zelensky on Tuesday conceded that Russian forces had advanced by up to 10 kilometres in聽a narrow section of the front line near the coal mining town of Dobropillia.
The Russian army鈥檚 gains on Tuesday were the biggest for a single 24-hour period in over a year, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
In southern Russia, 13 people, including two children, were injured Thursday in a Ukrainian drone attack that damaged around 10 residential buildings in Rostov-on-Don, regional governor Yuri Sliusar said on Telegram.
The Russian military claimed to have shot down 268 Ukrainian drones and four glide bombs in 24 hours.
In Ukraine, the air force said Russia had fired two missiles and 45 drones at Ukrainian territory overnight.
Two people were injured in the northern Sumy region and one in the Kherson region, according to local authorities.
Putin and Trump are to meet Friday in Alaska for a summit which the Kremlin said would focus on 鈥榯he resolution of the Ukraine crisis鈥�.
Russia, Trump said, would face 鈥榮evere consequences鈥� if it does not halt its offensive.
But Trump said: 鈥業f the first one goes okay, we鈥檒l have a quick second one,鈥� involving both Putin and Zelensky.
Putin pitched the meeting after Trump threatened sanctions on Russia. Trump has already ramped up tariffs on India, which has become a key buyer of Russian energy.
Zelensky, after being berated by Trump at a February meeting in the White House, has publicly supported US diplomacy but made clear his deep scepticism.
鈥業 have told my colleagues 鈥� the US president and our European friends 鈥� that Putin definitely does not want peace,鈥� Zelensky said.
Zelensky met in London with UK prime minister Keir Starmer in a strong show of support on the eve of a key US-Russia summit from which Kyiv and its European allies have been excluded.
Starmer greeted the Ukrainian leader with a warm hug and handshake on the steps of his Downing Street residence, only hours after Zelensky took part in a virtual call with Trump.
Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet first time the Russian leader has been permitted on Western soil since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine which has killed tens of thousands of people.
A stepped-up Russian offensive, and the fact Zelensky has not been invited to the Anchorage meeting Friday, have heightened fears that Trump and Putin could strike a deal that forces painful concessions on Ukraine.
But Starmer said Wednesday there was now a 鈥榲iable鈥� chance for a ceasefire in Ukraine after more than three years of fighting.
