Trump outlines serious plan to pressure Putin while pushing for peace

During a conversation with journalists, Donald Trump was asked what consequences might follow if Vladimir Putin refused his terms after the Alaska summit, and whether it could be said that the Russian president was again under pressure. Trump responded:

"I want to see the deal end. It`s very serious what I have in mind, and I have to do it, but I wanna see it end," the US president said.

According to Trump, Putin is ready in many respects, but sometimes "he is there and Zelensky won't be there."

"It`s like: ‘Who do we have today?’ I gotta get both of them at the same time, and I want to have it end," Trump added.

At the same time, the American leader noted that the US has economic sanctions. He stressed that the focus is on economic pressure, since he does not want the situation to escalate into a world war.

Zelenskyy–Putin meeting with Trump as mediator

On the night of August 16, Trump held talks with Putin in Alaska, and on August 18, hosted Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House. The key issue at both meetings was ending the war in Ukraine.

Following the August 18 summit, Trump announced preparations for a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, after which another meeting would be held with his participation. Trump also said that Putin had promised him to meet with Zelenskyy.

It seemed that developments were heading toward a logical conclusion, but ambiguous statements then emerged from Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had merely proposed raising the level of delegations in the talks. Regarding a leaders’ summit, he claimed Moscow recognized Zelenskyy only as "head of the regime" and was ready to meet, but raised issues over signing any documents.

Lavrov again revived propaganda narratives about Zelenskyy’s alleged illegitimacy, saying the question of legitimacy was "very important."