Ukraine Russia war live: Putin is preparing for new offensives ahead of Trump peace summit, Zelensky warns – UK Times

Donald Trump has said he expects to know within moments of starting his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska this Friday whether it will be possible to work out a deal to halt the war in Ukraine.

“At the end of that meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” Trump said at a White House press conference that he called to announce plans for a federal takeover of Washington’s police force to help combat crime.

He said he thought Friday’s sitdown with Putin in Alaska would be “really a feel-out meeting”.

Trump added that “it’ll be good, but it might be bad” and predicted he may say, “lots of luck, keep fighting. Or I may say, we can make a deal”.

The US president said that, after his meeting with Putin, “the next meeting will be with Zelensky and Putin” but it could also be a meeting with “Putin and Zelensky and me”.

Vladimir Putin is working on military preparations for new offensive operations in the Ukraine war, Volodymyr Zelensky warned ahead of the US-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday.

Citing reports from Ukraine’s intelligence and military command, Zelensky said: “So far, there is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation. On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations”.

The Russian president is “definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war,” he said.

“Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory and then continue acting exactly as before, applying the same pressure on Ukraine as before,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.