At a press conference on Monday, Donald Trump tried to put racing minds to rest about his upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin this Friday in Alaska. He described it as a “feel-out meeting” to gauge Moscow’s readiness to end the war, suggesting that it might turn out to be just an initial encounter. He also said that it was an opportunity for Ukraine to reclaim some of the roughly 20 per cent of its land the Russian army has captured since the conflict broke out in February 2022. “Russia’s occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We’re going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” Trump said at the White House.
This will come as music to the ears of the Europeans and Ukrainians—at least for now. There has been significant trepidation in European capitals that Trump might be tempted to make a deal with Putin over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s head.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy hosted Vice-President JD Vance at his country residence over the weekend, perhaps seeking to determine what Trump would be saying to the Russian strongman. On Saturday, Washington’s top European allies issued a joint statement reiterating for the umpteenth time that “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine”. Europe is so nervous about what could happen in Alaska that it has rushed to schedule a conference with Trump and Vance on Wednesday, ostensibly in an effort to instill European talking points into Trump’s brain before he meets with the wily former Russian KGB operative.
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Events on Ukraine-Russia
