WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was planning a second meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin soon after Friday’s Alaska summit — this time with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky included.

Trump is due to sit down with Putin in Anchorage on Friday, the first meeting between the Russian leader and a sitting US president since 2021. “If the first one goes okay, we’ll have a quick second one,” he told reporters.

“I would like to do it almost immediately, and we’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself, if they’d like to have me there.” The high-stakes talks come with Trump seeking to broker an end to Russia’s nearly three-and-a-half year war in Ukraine, and Zelensky and his European allies have urged the Republican to push for a ceasefire.

A stepped-up Russian offensive, and the fact Zelensky has not been invited to the Anchorage meeting on Friday, have heightened fears that Trump and Putin could strike a deal that forces painful concessions on Ukraine. Trump said Russia would face “very severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to end the war after Friday’s meeting, without elaborating.

‘Viable’ chance for Ukraine ceasefire thanks to Trump, says British PM

The US leader promised dozens of times during his 2024 election campaign to end the war on his first day in office but has made scant progress towards brokering a peace deal.

He threatened “secondary sanctions” on Russia’s trading partners over its invasion of Ukraine but his deadline for action came and went last week with no action announced.

Trump told reporters he’d had a “very good call” with European leaders including Zelensky as he took questions from reporters at an arts event at Washington’s Kennedy Center. “I would rate it at 10. You know — very, very friendly,” he said.

‘Viable’ chance for ceasefire

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said there was now a “viable” chance for a Ukraine ceasefire, ahead of talks between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Starmer said Ukraine’s military backers, the so-called Coalition of the Willing, had drawn up workable military plans in case of a ceasefire but were also ready to add pressure on Russia through sanctions.

“For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near... a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer told a meeting of European leaders.

“Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the (US) president has put in,” he told the video conference he led alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The call was joined by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky from Germany, and US Vice President JD Vance, who is currently visiting the UK.

While Starmer said Friday’s Alaska meeting between Trump and Putin was “hugely important”, he reiterated that there “should be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine”.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2025