Trump-Putin meeting today: schedule released
15 August 07:57
The White House has released the schedule for today’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin at the summit in Anchorage, Alaska. This was reported by Reuters, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs
Trump’s meeting with Putin will take place on Friday at 11:00 local time (22:00 Kyiv time) in Anchorage.
Trump will leave the White House at 6:45 a.m. EDT (13:45 a.m. Kyiv time) on Friday and will leave Anchorage at 5:45 p.m. (04:45 a.m. Saturday) local time the same day.
He is scheduled to return to the White House on the morning of Saturday, August 16.
As a reminder, a summit between the leaders of the United States and Russia will take place in Alaska today. During the meeting, Trump and Putin will discuss options for ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump’s main statements about the upcoming summit
The US President noted that the outcome of the upcoming talks depends on their progress:
- A successful meeting means the possibility of a quick peace.
- Unsuccessful dialog – the meeting will end quickly.
He also expressed his belief that Putin would have invaded the whole of Ukraine if he had not held the presidency.
“Tomorrow we have a meeting with President Putin. I think it will be a good meeting, but the second meeting we will have will be more important. We will have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself, and maybe we will bring some European leaders with us. Maybe not. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
According to Trump, he thinks that Russian President Putin will agree to peace, as will Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We’ll see if they can get along. And if they can, it will be great,” Trump said.
Answering journalists’ questions about whether the planned summit and its initiatives could actually be a reward for Putin for invading Ukraine, Trump emphasized that he did not consider it a reward. Regarding the offer to the Russian president about rare lands, he added that they are not of great importance, and his main goal is to save human lives.
Where Putin and Zelenskyy might meet
According to Sky News, Donald Trump suggested holding a second meeting with Putin in Alaska after the summit and said he would like to organize it as soon as possible.
Earlier, Trump said that if the Alaska summit was successful, he would initiate talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, emphasizing the importance of Kyiv’s participation in discussions of possible territorial solutions. According to The Guardian, the meeting is planned almost immediately after the first summit, but no specific dates have been announced.
In an interview with Fox News Radio, the US president clarified that his priority is talks with Putin, after which he plans to contact Zelenskyy, although such a call may not take place.
