Trump heads to 'high stakes' Alaska summit with Putin on Ukraine

Donald Trump headed to Alaska on Friday for what he called a "high stakes" summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin to discuss a ceasefire deal for Ukraine to help end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine.

Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said.

Both the US and Russian presidents, due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska's largest city, are seeking wins from their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House.

Trump, who casts the war as a "bloodbath" fraught with escalatory risk, is pressing for a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war that would bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

For Putin, the summit is already a big win as he can use it to say that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unravelled and that Moscow has retaken its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy.

In a symbolic gesture en route for Alaska, Putin laid flowers on Friday at a memorial in Russia's Far East commemorating US-Soviet cooperation in World War Two. The Kremlin said Putin would arrive in Alaska at 11am (1900 GMT) and that Trump would meet the Russian leader at his plane.

Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said that if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be even more important than his encounter with Putin.

"It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Friday, adding that the Trump-Putin meeting should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks with him included.

'SMART GUY'

Of Putin, Trump said on Friday: "He is 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." He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring a lot of businesspeople with him to Alaska.

"But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly.

One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs that Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war.

Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions.

Russia, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, is vulnerable to further US sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India.

"For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs," the Russian source said.

On the eve of the summit, Putin held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control agreement to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire in February next year.

COMMON GROUND?

The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground.

"Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon... because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.

Putin has so far voiced stringent conditions for a full ceasefire, but one compromise could be a truce in the air war. Putin has said he is open to a ceasefire but has repeatedly said the issues of verification need to be sorted out first.

Concerns that Trump might concede too much to Putin are not limited to Ukraine and Europe.

"I fear this meeting could once again end with America ceding ground to an autocrat who has spent his career undermining democratic values," said Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the US Senate intelligence committee.

Zelenskiy has accused Putin of playing for time to avoid US secondary sanctions and has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory.

Beyond territory, Ukraine has been clear in talks with Western allies that it needs a security guarantee backed by Washington. It is unclear how that guarantee could work - and what part the US would play in it.

Ukrainians who spoke to Reuters in central Kyiv on Friday were not optimistic about the Alaska summit.

"Nothing good will happen there, because war is war, it will not end. The territories - we're not going to give anything to anyone," said Tetiana Harkavenko, a 65-year-old cleaner.