Before his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, former US President Donald Trump expressed his confidence that peace can be achieved. The meeting will take place on August 15 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. “I think President Putin will make peace and President Zelensky will make peace,” Trump stated. When asked about potential incentives, Trump responded, “We’re going to see what happens with our meeting. We have a big meeting. It’s going to be, I think, very important for Russia, and it’s going to be very important for us and important for us only that we’re going to save a lot of lives.” He added that his goal is “to save thousands of soldiers a week.” Trump also plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the Alaska talks, and might include European leaders. He expects this second meeting could be even more important than the first. “We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it’s gonna be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we’re having. We’re gonna have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, me, and maybe we’ll bring some of the European leaders along, maybe not,” he said. Trump referred to the conflict as “Biden’s war,” and said that it would not have happened if he had remained president. He said that he aims to resolve the conflict. He also expressed optimism about normalizing trade between the US and Russia. Trump anticipates determining the possibility of a deal during the initial minutes of his meeting with Putin.
