Trump flies to Alaska for Putin summit, calling it 'high stakes'

New York, Aug 15 (IANS) "HIGH STAKES!!!", US President Donald Trump posted on social media on Friday before jetting off to Alaska, setting the stage for his summit with Russia's President Vladimir Putin to find an end to the Ukraine war.

"I want to see a ceasefire rapidly," he told reporters travelling with him on Air Force 1.

"I don't know if it's going to be today, but I'm not going to be happy if it's not today," he added a note of caution.

"I'm in this to stop the killing," he said, of the biggest war in Europe since the end of World War II eight decades ago.

He also reiterated his clarification, "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I'm here to get them at a table."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will not be at the face-to-face talks between Trump and Putin, echoed Trump's characterisation of the talks, posting on X, "Indeed, high stakes."

He added, "The key thing is that this meeting should open up a real path toward a just peace and a substantive discussion between leaders in a trilateral format -- Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian side. It is time to end the war."

India also has a stake in the outcome of the summit as the punitive 25 per cent tariff that Trump had threatened for buying Russian oil would become moot if there's peace deal.

Trump said on Thursday that he expected there would be a quick second summit with Zelensky, Putin, and, possibly, some European leaders if there was progress in his meeting with the Russian leader.

But he has also warned Putin of "very severe consequences" if there were no ceasefire.

En route to Anchorage in Alaska, Putin stopped at Magadan in Russia's far east, where he symbolically placed flowers at a monument honouring US and Soviet pilots ferrying supplies from the US to Russia during World War II, when the two countries were allies.

Putin said on Thursday that Trump has been making "fairly vigorous and sincere efforts to halt hostilities, resolve the crisis, and reach agreements that serve the interests of all parties involved in this conflict".

This will be Putin's first visit to the US in a decade after a 2015 trip when he met former President Barack Obama during a United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2015.

He had met Trump at least six times during his first term, and this will be the first direct contact in Trump's second term.

A ceasefire hinges on two main factors: Land swap or re-drawing of borders that would give Russia some Ukrainian territories, and a security guarantee from Europeans and the US for Ukraine.

Trump has spoken of a land swap, which would be politically hard for Zelensky.

British Defence Secretary David Lammy said on Friday that the United Kingdom and its allies are ready to put troops in Ukraine to guarantee its security if there is a ceasefire.

Trump also spoke in support of troops to guarantee security, but ruled out their going there under the NATO banner.

--IANS

al/khz