President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a deal, and that the threat of sanctions against Russia likely played a role in Moscow seeking a meeting.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday. The U.S. president said he is unsure whether an immediate ceasefire can be achieved but expressed interest in brokering a peace agreement.
“He’s, he really, I believe now, he’s convinced that he’s going to make a deal, he’s going to make a deal. I think he’s going to, and we’re going to find out,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio’s “.
Earlier in the day, Putin said that the United States was making “sincere efforts” to end the war in Ukraine and suggested that Moscow and Washington could agree on a nuclear arms deal as part of a broader push to strengthen peace.
Trump also mentioned during the Fox interview that he has three locations in mind for a follow-up meeting with Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, though he noted that a second meeting is not guaranteed.
“Depending on what happens with my meeting, I’m going to be calling up President Zelensky, and let’s get him over to wherever we’re going to meet,” Trump said.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Chizu Nomiyama )