Trump approaching Putin’s meeting in Alaska ‘as failures’

President Donald Trump revealed how he planned to approach his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Trump appeared for a radio interview on the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Thursday, the host Brian Kilmeade told Putin and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy are “like failures”.

Trump estimated that his meeting in Alaska with Putin has “25% chance of failing squarely, but he said that hope was to put pressure on a second meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

“This meeting sets up the second meeting,” Trump told Kilmead.

He argued that the second meeting would be “extremely important” and suggested that there would probably be negotiations on land exchanges, a notion that Zelenskyy opposed.

Zelenskyy, before Trump-Putin’s meeting, says that there is no `signe ” Russia wants to end the war

Trump added that he thought he will quickly know on Friday if Putin intends to cooperate.

“I believe that now he is convinced that he will conclude an agreement. He will conclude an agreement. I think he will do it. And we will discover it – I will know very quickly,” said Trump.

What we know about Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska

Trump continued confirming that he is going forward with a series of sanctions against Russia if Putin was not going forward with peace talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was vocally opposed to talking about land exchanges in negotiations with Russia. (Antonio Masiello / Getty Image)

“There will be consequences,” Trump told journalists on Wednesday. “I don’t have to say. There will be very serious consequences.”

Putin said Thursday that the United States “made, in my opinion, fairly energetic and sincere efforts to stop hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that interest all parties involved in this conflict”.

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Meanwhile, Zelenskyy minimized hopes around the meeting on Wednesday, saying that he sees “no sign” that Russia is preparing to end the war in Ukraine.

The Russian forces continued to bomb the Ukrainian cities even though the leaders engage in peace talks. (AP photo / Yevhen Titov)

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“At the moment, there is no sign that the Russians prepare to end the war. Our coordinated efforts and our joint actions – of Ukraine, the United States, Europe and all countries seeking peace – can certainly force Russia to make peace,” said Zelenskyy on X.

Reuters contributed to this report.