Russian President Vladimir Putin ended his joint press conference with US President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday with an invitation for the next round of talks to take place in Moscow.
“Next time in Moscow,” Putin remarked, to which Trump responded, “That’s an interesting one. I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I can see it possibly happening.”
Trump stressed that the next move now depends on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirming that efforts are underway to set up a three-way meeting. “Now it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done. They’re going to set up a meeting now between President Zelenskyy and President Putin and myself, I guess,” he said, according to CNN.
While declining to detail unresolved sticking points, Trump described the summit as highly successful, rating it “10 out of 10 in the sense that we got along great.” He added, “I want to make sure it gets done. And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.”
According to Trump, the two leaders discussed ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict through land swaps and some form of US-backed security guarantee for Ukraine. He suggested that these ideas had already received broad agreement from both sides.
“Well, I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on,” Trump said, calling the discussion a “warm meeting.”
Despite describing Putin as “tough as hell” and a “strong guy,” Trump emphasized that their talks were constructive. “I think we’re pretty close to the end. And look, Ukraine has to agree to it,” he noted.
On his advice to President Zelenskyy, Trump was blunt: “Gotta make a deal.”