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US President Donald Trump believes his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will not try to "play" with him during their meeting today at 9:30 PM Albanian time in Alaska.
He has said his goal is to "soon" include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in upcoming peace talks for Ukraine.
Hours before the meeting of Russian and American leaders, Ukraine is facing increasing military pressure and on Thursday authorities ordered new evacuations of areas in the eastern Donetsk region, where the advance of Moscow's troops has continued apace in recent days.
"If I weren't president, (Putin) would want to take control of all of Ukraine. But I'm president, and he's not going to play with me," President Trump told reporters at the White House on the eve of a crucial one-on-one meeting with the Kremlin strongman.
For Daniel Fried, a former US ambassador to Poland and now an analyst at the Atlantic Council, the danger of Friday's meeting could be that it turns into a "missed opportunity" if Putin simply buys time.
"I'll know in the first two, three, four or five minutes" whether the meeting will be constructive or not, claimed Trump, who considers himself a favorite for the Nobel Peace Prize.
"This meeting will pave the way for another one," with the participation of the Ukrainian president, he said earlier in an interview he gave to Fox News Radio.
Concern in Kiev and the EU
Kiev and the Europeans fear that in Zelensky's absence, Trump and Putin could begin to redraw the map of Ukraine.
"I don't want to use the term 'partition,' but, in a way, it's not a bad term," said the US president, who has said territorial concessions will be required to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
The US president also expressed his desire for a trilateral summit in the future, perhaps in Alaska.
For his part, Putin praised the "practical and sincere" efforts of the US to "end hostilities, resolve the crisis and reach agreements that will satisfy all parties involved."
The Ukrainian president was not invited to the meeting between the two leaders, whose relationship is volatile and marked by tensions and sometimes spectacular rapprochement. Volodymyr Zelensky visited London on Thursday, where he was received by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. European leaders have rallied to his side, trying to influence the American president.
Trump's one-on-one meeting with Putin will take place at Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base near Anchorage, with only their interpreters present, and the talks will focus on "resolving the Ukrainian crisis" as well as bilateral issues, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said. A working lunch with delegations from both countries will follow.
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