Trump-Putin Summit: 'Very serious consequences' if Russia does not end the war, says Trump

The US president, who said he wanted to "test the waters" with his Russian counterpart, said on Wednesday that two outcomes were possible. If the meeting goes well, it will lead "almost immediately" to a three-way meeting between Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky and himself , to put an end to the war triggered in February 2022 by the Russian invasion.

But if his first face-to-face meeting with the Kremlin's leader since 2019 goes badly, Donald Trump has assured that there will be no "second meeting" to end the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Stung by press comments portraying the summit as a diplomatic victory for Vladimir Putin, the American president assured that Russia would face "very serious consequences" if it did not agree to end the war. But he did not elaborate on this threat, which is not the first of its kind.

Donald Trump is scheduled to speak in the Oval Office on Thursday, but the White House has not specified the purpose of his address. On Wednesday, in the streets of downtown Anchorage, there were no cordoned-off streets, no barricaded neighborhoods, and not even a visible police presence. At first glance, nothing suggested that this highly important meeting was in preparation.

But at the airport, journalists laden with cameras mingle with tourists laden with fishing rods. Hotels are full, car rentals are robbed. The two leaders will meet at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base, whose strategic importance peaked during the Cold War.

“Very good call”

To allow the Russian delegation to visit, the US Treasury decided on Friday to temporarily suspend sanctions imposed against Vladimir Putin and several senior officials since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Until the end, each side is striving to consolidate its position: on the front lines for the Russians, through diplomatic channels for Kiev and the Europeans . Donald Trump assured that he had a "very good call" on Wednesday with the Ukrainian president and leaders of European countries, the EU and NATO. "We hope that the central theme of the meeting" on Friday will be "an immediate ceasefire," declared Volodymyr Zelensky.

He fears that the summit between the Russian and American presidents will go further, outlining a long-term settlement of the conflict to the detriment of his country. Europeans therefore sought on Wednesday to influence the mood with which Donald Trump, a volatile leader, approaches the meeting. Keir Starmer spoke of a "real" chance of a ceasefire. A British Prime Minister who will receive Volodymyr Zelensky in London this Thursday.

Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, is preparing to cross into Alaska amid the accelerated advance of Russian forces into Ukrainian territory. Russian troops said they had conquered more than 110 square kilometers more as of August 12 than the previous day, a feat not seen since late May 2024.

In a sign of the worsening situation, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of families from around ten towns in the east on Wednesday. At least three people were killed in Russian artillery fire and drone strikes in the southern Kherson region early Wednesday, according to regional authorities.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine cede four partially occupied regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson), in addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and that it renounce Western arms supplies and any NATO membership. Kyiv considers these demands unacceptable.

Donald Trump has predicted "territorial swaps" at a time when Russian troops occupy about 20% of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out any withdrawal from areas of eastern Ukraine as part of a peace agreement.