Trump boards flight to Alaska, says Putin ‘won’t mess around’ as Russian leader time-travels into second Friday

“We’re gonna find out where everybody stands. And 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,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

“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 warned.

Trump, who has long argued the war “should have never happened,” said that if he were not president, Putin “would take over all of Ukraine.” He added: “But I am President, and he’s not going to mess around with me.”

“Trying to set a stage”

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said Putin is “a smart guy” and they “get along,” with “a good respect level on both sides,” adding, “I thought something is going to come up.”

“I noticed he’s bringing a lot of business people from Russia, and that’s good. I like that because they want to do business, but they’re not doing business until we get the war stopped.”

On Russian attacks on Ukraine, Trump said he thinks Putin “is trying to set a stage” that “in his mind… helps him make a better deal,” but added, “it actually hurts him, and I will be talking to him about it.”

Asked if talks would cover territorial issues, Trump said: “They’ll be discussed, but I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision, and I think they’ll make a proper decision, but I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I’m here to get them at a table. And I think you have two sides. Look, Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I wasn’t president, he would, right now, be taking all of Ukraine, but he’s not going to do it.”

On possible US security guarantees for Ukraine, he said: “Maybe, along with Europe and other countries. Not in the form of Nato, because… there are certain things that aren’t going to happen. But yeah, along with Europe, there’s possibility …”

Confirming his earlier warning to Moscow, Trump said: “Economically severe. It will be very severe. I’m not doing this for my health, okay, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives. Yeah, very severe.”

Two Fridays

“High stakes!” Trump posted on Truth Social before boarding his flight to Anchorage, where he will host Putin in what is being billed as a historic summit, the Russian leader’s first visit to the West since the war began in February 2022.

Putin made a stop in Russia’s far eastern city of Magadan on his way to Alaska for Friday’s summit with Trump.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s visit to Magadan is a “full-fledged regional trip,” including a tour of an industrial plant and talks with the regional governor.

“The city is important. Putin has been there many times, even when he was prime minister,” Peskov told state news agency TASS.

The journey from Moscow to Magadan takes roughly eight hours, followed by another four-hour flight to Anchorage, Alaska, where the high-stakes meeting will be held.

Because of the time zones he will cross, Putin will, in effect, experience two Fridays — one in Magadan and the other in Alaska.

The US delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

Joining Putin on the Russian side are Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Russian Direct Investment Fund chief Kirill Dmitriev, and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

Zelenskyy posted on social media that he expects a report from Ukrainian intelligence today “on the current intentions of the Russian side and its preparations for the meeting in Alaska.”

Responding to Trump’s earlier remarks, he said: “Indeed, high stakes. The key thing is that this meeting should open up a real path toward a just peace and a substantive discussion between leaders in a trilateral format – Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian side. It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America. We are ready, as always, to work as productively as possible.”

(With inputs from The Guardian, CNN, Reuters and Associated Press)

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