The White House is weighing whether to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Alaska, where US President Donald Trump is set to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on August 15, as per a senior US official and three people familiar with the talks, reports NBC News. “It’s being discussed,” said one of the people familiar with the internal discussions.“Everyone is very hopeful that would happen,” said a senior administration official, noting that it was “absolutely” possible, reported NBC News. It remains unclear whether Putin and Zelenskyy would be in the same room even if the latter were to travel to Alaska, said a person familiar with the talks. The White House initially required Putin to meet with Zelenskyy as a condition for Trump’s talks with the Russian president, but Trump later said that it was not a necessary precondition. “The President remains open to a trilateral summit with both leaders. Right now, the White House is focusing on planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin,” a senior White House official said, as per NBC News. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, also met Putin in Moscow ahead of Friday’s deadline for the Russian leader to agree to a ceasefire or face new sanctions.Putin has not yet agreed to a ceasefire, but has forwarded a proposal to end the war to let Russia retain control of large areas of Ukrainian territory. “There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” between Russia and Ukraine, Donald Trump said at an event at the White House on Friday, reported NBC News. “We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched.”Zelenskyy on Saturday accused Putin of attempting “legalise the occupation” of Ukraine’s territories amid ongoing efforts to negotiate a peace deal. He criticised Putin’s “tactics” and stressed that Russia must end the war it started.“Everyone can clearly see Putin’s tactics. He fears sanctions and is doing everything to bail on them. He wants to exchange a pause in the war, in the killings, for the legalisation of the occupation of our land,” Zelenskyy said, through a video message on X. “We will not allow this second attempt to partition Ukraine. Knowing Russia, where there is a second, there will be a third. That is why we stand firm on clear Ukrainian positions. We must end the war with a dignified peace, based on a clear and reliable security architecture,” he added.
