U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Tuesday to prepare for the upcoming summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the State Department announced. According to State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, both sides “confirmed their commitment to a successful event.” Bruce also confirmed that Putin had requested the meeting, which will take place this Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the meeting a “personal victory” for Putin, who had been largely isolated by the West since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Rubio, however, defended the summit in a radio interview, explaining that Trump believes he needs to meet Putin “face to face” and “hear him one-on-one” to make an assessment. Rubio stressed that for Trump, a meeting is not a concession.
Trump has suggested that any peace deal might involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Russia and Ukraine. This has raised fears among Zelensky and his European allies that Ukraine could be pressured to give up more territory than Russia. Zelensky and his counterparts argue that a lasting peace cannot be achieved without Ukraine’s direct involvement and must respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. They are scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with Trump on Wednesday to voice these concerns before the summit.
Zelensky has insisted that a ceasefire must be agreed upon before any territorial issues are discussed. He stated that he would reject any Russian proposal that requires Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region or cede its defensive lines. When asked why Zelensky was not invited to the Alaska summit, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that the bilateral meeting was requested by Putin and that Trump accepted to get a “better understanding” of how to end the war. “You need both countries to agree to a deal,” she said.
