Trump made the remark during a White House briefing that he called to announce plans for a federal takeover of Washington’s police force to combat crime.
US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism ahead of his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, saying he would know in the “first two minutes” whether he would strike a deal with Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump made the remark during a White House briefing that he called to announce plans for a federal takeover of Washington’s police force to combat crime.
“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 ahead of his Friday summit with Putin, Associated Press reported.
Trump said he thought that the Friday’s meeting with Putin in Alaska would be “really a feel-out meeting”.
The US president said that “it’ll be good, but it might be bad”. He further predicted that he would say, “lots of luck, keep fighting. Or I may say, we can make a deal.”
While Trump presses for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Putin would want to lock in the gains since he started a war with Ukraine in February 2022.
Though White House earlier suggested inviting Volodymyr Zelensky to Alaska, the Ukraine President is unlikely to attend the meeting.
Trump has repeatedly ducked chances to say that he would push for Zelensky to take part in his discussions with Putin. He said the Ukrainian president had been to “a lot of meetings” without managing to stop the war.
The US President also suggested that after his meeting with Putin, the next meeting would be with Zelensky and Putin. “But it could also be a meeting with “Putin and Zelenskyy and me,” he added.
After taking over the White House, Trump spent the early months decrying Zelensky, suggesting that the Ukraine President was a dictator because the country has not held elections during the war.
However, Trump has expressed frustration with Putin for not appearing to take the ceasefire push more seriously.
