Russian invasion Negotiations

Kremlin: Leaders open to economic cooperation

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will discuss “bilateral economic cooperation,” the war in Ukraine and global security issues during their meeting in Alaska on Friday, the Kremlin said, according to the Financial Times.

Moscow believes there is “huge, untapped potential for trade and economic cooperation,” Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told state-run Tass.

According to Ushakov, the meeting will be held at 11:30 a.m. local time on Friday, which corresponds to 9:30 p.m. Swedish time.

The summit will be the first between the countries since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Sources: Trump does not want to discuss division of territory

Donald Trump does not intend to discuss any possible territorial divisions between Russia and Ukraine when he meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska this week.

He told European leaders and Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky at the summit on Wednesday, according to two officials and three other people briefed on the conversation. NBC News reports.

During the meeting, Trump reportedly said that he was entering the meeting with Putin with the goal of securing a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Trump and the European leaders reportedly agreed that a ceasefire in Ukraine is required before peace talks can begin, the sources say.

Expert ahead of Alaska meeting: There is not much Trump can do

Ahead of the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Friday, sanctions expert Maria Perrotta Berlin notes that there is not much more that can be done, reports TT. She says that the sanctions are not enough and that they have always come a little too late.

– Russia has had time to adapt, found ways to circumvent them, and so we have to find ways to plug the loopholes. We are constantly one step behind, she tells the news agency.

Trump has threatened “serious consequences” for Russia if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire. Perrotta Berlin believes that it is likely to involve sanctions against the Russian shadow fleet.

However, she believes that cooperation would have worked better than confrontation because if the US takes a hard line against

Analysis: Warm hug – but both know how much is at stake

It has been an intense week for European diplomats ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting, writes Paul Adams in an analysis for the BBC. The intense week ended with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj being welcomed to the UK by the country's Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Adams notes that the hug between the two leaders was a clear symbolic gesture of solidarity. He also notes that Starmer broke protocol when he followed the president back to his car at Downing Street.

Mhari Aurora on Sky News also writes about Starmer and Zelenskyj's hug.

"It was a warm embrace, but still they had serious and determined expressions. They understand how crucial the next 48 hours are," she writes, emphasizing that Ukraine is at a crossroads ahead of the meeting in Alaska.

The hug and the meeting are a clear pass to the American president, says The Independent's Kate Devlin.

"The message is clear. Britain, like much of Europe, stands firmly by Zelenskyy's side," she says in her text.

Zelenskyy in meeting with Starmer: "Good and productive"

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer the day before the important meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy calls the meeting good and productive in a post on X.

He writes that today's meeting was about similar things as during the summit with European leaders yesterday and mentions that they discussed security guarantees and weapons assets.

On Wednesday, the European leaders said that no decisions about Ukraine's future must be made without Ukraine.