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Washington – President Trump said Monday that he hoped to determine the simple moments in his meeting With Russian President Vladimir Putin this week if it would be possible to resolve an agreement to stop the War in Ukraine.

“At the end of that meeting, probably the first two minutes, I will know exactly if you can make an agreement,” Trump said at a press conference from the White House where he announced plans For a federal acquisition of Washington’s police force to help fight crime.

He said he thought that Friday’s sitting with Putin in Alaska would be “really a felt meeting.” Mr. Trump added that “it will be good, but it could be bad” and predicted that he can say: “Good luck, still fighting. Or I can say that we can make a deal.”

Putin wants to block Russia’s profits since Ukraine invaded in February 2022 while Trump presses a high fire that has remained out of reach. Trump’s desire to reach an agreement has increased fears in Ukraine and Europe on such an agreement that favors Russia, without sufficient contribution from Ukraine. Trump has alternately criticized both leaders after promising, and so far failing, to quickly finish the conflict.

NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte He said “Face the Nation” Sunday that “it is important to see how serious Putin is and the only one who can do it is President Trump.”

“It is really crucial for a meeting to take place. It will not be the last saying about this,” Routte said. “Of course, Ukraine will have to participate in Europe, but it is important to start the next phase of this process, pressing the Russians, exactly as President Trump has been doing in the last six months.”

Mr. Trump crouched on Monday the repeated opportunities to say that he would press that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in his discussions with Putin, and was especially derogatory with Zelenskyy and his need to be part of an effort to seek peace.

He said that the Ukrainian president had been in “many meetings” without stopping a war that Russia began. Trump also pointed out that Zelenskyy had been in power during the war and said that “nothing happened” during that time. It contrasts with Putin, who has wielded power in Russia for decades.

Trump said, after his meeting with Putin, “the next meeting will be with Zelenskyy and Putin,” but it could also be a meeting with “Putin and Zelenskyy and me.”

European allies have pressed for the participation of Ukraine, fearful that discussions can favor Moscow.

Until that time, Trump said he would call Zelenskyy and European leaders after their discussion with Putin to “tell them what kind of treatment, I will not make a deal. It does not depend on me to make a deal.”

Trump spent the first part of his administration denouncing Zelenskyy, even suggesting that he was a dictator because his country has not celebrated elections during the war. Zelenskyy was OV’s office left In February after Mr. Trump and vice president JD Vance suggested that he had not been grateful enough for the support of the United States.

More recently, Trump has He expressed frustration With Putin, Russia has not seemed to boost the fire more seriously, and softened its tone to Zelenskyy. His comments on Monday suggested that he could have had another change of opinion.

“President Putin invited me to get involved,” Trump said. He pointed out that he thought it was “very respectful” that Putin will come to the United States for Friday’s meeting, instead of insisting that Trump was Russia.

“I would like to see the fire. I would like to see the best treatment that can be done for both parties,” Trump said.

The president repeated that any important agreement could involve land swaps, without elaborating. He had threatened Moscow with more economic sanctions if it is not done more to work towards a high fire, but suggested on Monday, if Friday’s meeting was successful, he could see a day when the United States and Russia normalize commercial relations.

Putin is expected to be unwavering in his demands to maintain the entire territory that now occupy their forces and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, with the long -term objective to return it to the sphere of influence of Moscow.

Zelenskyy insists that he will never consent to any Russian formal annexation of the Ukrainian territory or give up an offer for NATO membership.

Putin believes that he has the advantage in the field, since Ukrainian forces fight to contain Russian advances along the front of 600 miles. In the first line, few Ukrainian soldiers believe that there is an end in view of the war.

With Europeans and Ukrainians so far not invited to the summit, Germany He sought to prepare By inviting Mr. Trump, Zelenskyy, the head of NATO and several other European leaders for a virtual meeting on Wednesday.

The German Foreign Ministry said that conversations would seek additional ways to press Russia and prepare for peace negotiations and “related issues of territorial claims and security.”

Steffen Meyer, spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said the German government “has always emphasized that borders should not be transferred by force” and that Ukraine should decide his own destiny “independently and autonomously.”

Previously, a Ukrainian drone attack killed a person and wounded two others in a region about 260 miles east of Moscow.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a total of 39 Ukrainian drones during the night and Monday morning over several Russian regions, as well as on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia attached in 2014.

• JD Vance
• War
• Ukraine
• Donald Trump
• Policy
• Russia
• Friedrich Merz
• Vladimir Putin
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy