US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, won’t “mess around” with him ahead of a summit between the two world leaders in Alaska.The US president will be holding face-to-face talks with Putin at a US military base on Friday to negotiate a potential ceasefire in Ukraine. During a press conference at the White House, Trump acknowledged that Putin is interested in gaining full territorial control of Ukraine but insists that won’t happen with him as US president.I think President Putin would like to see a deal. I think if I weren’t President, he would take over all of Ukraine. It’s a a war that should never have happened. In my opinion, if I weren’t President, he would much rather take off, take over all of Ukraine. But I am President, he is not going to mess around with me.He also proposed that European leaders could be invited to participate in a second meeting, which would include Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump told Fox News Radio that the main aim of tomorrow’s meeting is to set up talks between Putin and the Ukrainian president, adding that he has three locations in mind for such a meeting. The US President, who is preparing to meet his Russian counterpart for the first time since 2018, expressed confidence that both leaders “will make peace”. Friday’s talks between the presidents will include a one-on-one meeting, a bilateral lunch with both delegations and a press conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Earlier on Thursday, Putin praised Trump’s “sincere efforts” towards ending the war in Ukraine, telling Kremlin officials the US is making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the fighting”. The comments followed UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hosting Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street for talks, greeting the Ukrainian president with a warm hug outside his residence.
