Trump and Putin to spar Ukraine peace and arms control at Alaska summit

By Andrew OSBORN

Moscow (Reuters) -Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin organized negotiations in Alaska on Friday, with a possible nuclear agreement in Ukraine’s cease -fire agreement in Ukraine, but Putin’s proposal to help both men to save the face.

Russian and US leaders’ meeting at the Cold War Period Air Force Base in Alaska, the first face -to -face talks since Trump returned to the White House, comes in the midst of Ukraine and Europe fears that Trump can sell Kiev.

Trump said that he would end Russia’s war in Ukraine in 24 hours, and that the three -and -a -half -year conflict on Thursday proved that it was a more difficult hazelnut than he thought.

In the event that his negotiations with Putin went well, he said he would be more important than his encounter with Putin if he later set up a three -way summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the meeting on Friday.

Trump is pressing for a ceasefire to support identity information as a global peaceful deserved Nobel Peace Prize.

The Ukraine and its European allies were encouraged with the conference talks on Wednesday and said that Trump had to participate in any meeting about Ukraine’s land. Zelenskiy said Trump also supported the idea of security guarantees in a post -war agreement, but the President of the United States never mentioned them.

Wednesday’s call alleviated the fear of a Trump-Putin agreement that would put Ukraine under pressure to make regional and other concessions.

Putin, which shows signs of coercion on the economy of war, needs Trump to help Russia out of the boring western sanctions, or at least something Trump threatened not to hit Moscow with more sanctions.

The day before the summit, he revealed the possibility of something else that the Kremlin leader Trump knew he wanted – a new nuclear weapon control agreement, instead of the survivor, will end in February next year.

Trump says Putin will make an agreement in Ukraine

Trump said he thought Putin would make an agreement in Ukraine on the eve of the summit, but with the chance of a breakthrough, he blew up with a hot and cold air. Meanwhile, Putin praised what he calls “sincere efforts” for the US to end the war.

A source close to the Kremlin told Reuters that the two sides could find a common ground that was not previously specified.

“Apparently, some terms will be reached on tomorrow (Friday) because Trump is not in a position that cannot be rejected and rejected (because of the sanction pressure),” he said.

Putin has set strict conditions for a ceasefire, but a compromise could be a gradual ceasefire in the air war, but both sides accused the other of making an previous agreement.

Analysts say Putin gives Trump what he wants, and he can try to appear while he wants to climb in Ukraine.

“If they do not create a kind of ceasefire, but put Russia under the control of these climbing dynamics, they do not create any real deterrent on Ukraine, Putin’s point of view will be a great result,” he said.

Trump argues that land transfer will be needed

Zelenskiy accused Putin of bluff to avoid the secondary sanctions of the United States and playing for time and refused to surrender Moscow.

Trump said the land transfer between Russia and Ukraine could be a possible way to break Logjam.

Putin, whose forces controls about one fifth of Ukraine, wants Trump to revive the shrinking economic, political and business ties of the two countries, and ideally not to depend on the progress in Ukraine.

However, it is not clear whether Putin is willing to compromise in Ukraine. For a quarter of a century, in power, the chief of the Kremlin created the legacy of war with something he could sell to his people as a victory.

Among the objectives of war is the Russian control on the Donbas Industrial Zone to the east of Ukraine, which constitutes Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Despite continuous progress, about 25% of Donetsk is beyond Russian control.

Putin also wants full control of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine; NATO membership will be removed from the table for Kyiv; and the boundaries of the armed forces of Ukraine.

Ukraine said these terms were unacceptable and equivalent to wanting to surrender.

(He reports by Andrew Osborn; Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya in Moscow;