US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss 'land swapping' when they meet on Friday in Alaska for a high-stakes summit on the Ukraine war. Trump expressed frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for putting conditions on any potential peace deal, specifically Zelenskyy's insistence on a national referendum for any agreement recognising Russian control over occupied territory.
During a White House news conference on Monday, Trump said: 'I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying I have to get constitutional approval. He has approval to go to war and kill everybody but he needs approval to do a land swap. Because there will be some land swapping going on.' Trump described his vision for a peace deal as including 'good stuff, not bad stuff, also some bad stuff for both' and said the agreement would 'change the lines, the battle lines'.
European diplomats have been alarmed by the lack of clarity from the US side on the territories Putin is demanding and the terms of a ceasefire. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has invited Trump to join emergency virtual talks with EU leaders and Zelenskyy on Wednesday, as European demands grow for the US president to agree red lines before Friday's summit. Neither Zelenskyy nor European leaders have been invited to the Alaska meeting.
Trump said he would seek to arrange direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy, a proposal Putin has so far rejected. He described the upcoming summit as a 'feel-out meeting' and said he would update Zelenskyy and European leaders if Putin proposed a 'fair deal'. EU foreign ministers are meeting in an emergency session to underscore demands for wider consultations, with concerns that Trump could make damaging concessions to Putin.
