Trump Vows Quick Exit from Putin Summit If Talks Go Badly
President Trump said his goal for the Putin summit is to save lives and set up a meeting with Ukraine's leader. He told reporters he'll know in minutes if a deal is possible and will walk out quickly from a "bad meeting."
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, declared that his primary motivation for meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin is to "save thousands of soldiers a week" and that he will know within minutes if the high-stakes summit will be productive, vowing to end the meeting "very quickly" if it is not.
The U.S. President laid out a two-step diplomatic process, framing the initial talks in Alaska as a precursor to a more significant, three-way meeting that would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to secure a peace agreement.
During a press conference primarily focused on domestic policy, President Trump addressed the upcoming meeting with his Russian counterpart, stating it would be "very important for Russia" and "very important for us."
He emphasized that his central goal was humanitarian, aiming to halt a conflict he said was claiming thousands of lives weekly. "Last week they lost 7,251 people, mostly soldiers, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers," he told reporters.
"I'm doing it for that reason." He framed the conflict as one that "would have never happened when I was president," repeatedly calling it "Biden's war" and stating, "I want to see if I can stop the killing."
President Trump clarified his expectations for the Friday summit, describing it not as a final negotiation but as a preliminary step.
"Tomorrow all I want to do is set the table for the next meeting, which should happen shortly," he said. He outlined a plan for a subsequent summit involving himself, President Putin, and "President Zelenskyy," adding, "maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along."
He expressed confidence in this path forward, stating, "I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelenskyy will make peace. We'll see if they can get along."
In a stark assessment of his negotiating posture, the president asserted that he would be able to gauge the potential for success almost immediately.
"I'll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes... whether or not we're going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting," he stated.
"And if it's a bad meeting, it'll end very quickly. And if it's a good meeting, we're going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future."
He also projected an image of personal strength, telling reporters that while he believes Putin would "much rather take over all of Ukraine" if he were not in office, "I am president and he's not going to mess around with me."
When questioned by reporters on potential concessions, President Trump dismissed the idea of offering Russia access to rare earth minerals as "very unimportant relative" to his goal of saving lives.
On the question of whether the summit could be seen as rewarding President Putin for the invasion, Trump responded, "No, I don't think it's a reward."
He added, "Everybody's to blame. Putin's to blame. They're all to blame. This is a war that would have never happened."
He was non-committal when asked if he would agree to reducing NATO troops in Europe to secure a deal, saying the idea "hasn't been put before me and I'll think about that for later."
