 "U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. Image- Reuters")
US President Donald Trump said that he will meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska to discuss the war in Ukraine that has been going on for three-and-a-half years. Trump noted that the talks would also involve “some swapping of territories”, raising concerns about Ukrainian territories that are under Russian control.
In a brief post on TruthSocial on Friday, Trump confirmed the location of the meeting between the two world leaders and said that it will take place next Friday. Kremlin went on to confirm that they have received an invitation for the Alaska meeting. Trump’s confirmation post came just hours after he told reporters in the White House that the meeting “would have been sooner, but I guess there’s security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make”.
The US President also noted that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, and that the matter would be discussed soon with both sides. Trump’s remarks on the matter came after Bloomberg reported on Friday that the deal could cement some of Putin’s territorial gains in Ukraine.
The proposal might call for the freezing of the battle lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. It is pertinent to note that Putin has claimed that Russia annexed four Ukrainian regions in their entirety, although much of their territory remains under Ukrainian control.
The war freeze on the cards
According to the Bloomberg report, US and Russian officials are working on a deal under which Russia would halt its offensive in exchange for territorial concessions. However, the proposal would not sit well with Ukraine. Trump’s comments on the matter came after Poland’s prime minister said a “freeze” in the conflict could be close, after speaking with the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy , who has communicated with Trump and European leaders in recent days.
“There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don’t want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict – is closer than it is further away,” Donald Tusk said during a news conference. “There are hopes for this.” Tusk maintained that Zelenskyy was “very cautious but optimistic” about the ceasefire, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Trump has expressed his readiness to meet Putin one-on-one without the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This eventually stoked fears that Ukraine may be left out of negotiations for the framework of a potential ceasefire. It is important to note that if a meeting between the two leaders takes place, it would be the first US-Russia summit since 2021, when former president Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva.
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Meanwhile, the Kremlin on Saturday confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump would meet in Alaska for talks next Friday, calling the choice of location “quite logical”.
“Russia and the United States are close neighbours, bordering each other,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said. “It seems quite logical that our delegation should simply fly across the Bering Strait and that such an important and eagerly awaited summit between the leaders of the two countries should be held in Alaska.”
The Kremlin also noted that it has invited Trump to embark on a separate visit to Russia after the meeting. “Looking ahead, it is natural to hope that the next meeting between the presidents will be held on Russian territory. A corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president,” Ushakov averred.
With inputs from agencies.