News - Middle East: US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Anchorage, Alaska in the next few hours to discuss the war in Ukraine.

The Friday meeting is intended as a step toward ending the war in Ukraine, even as Washington and Moscow remain far apart on what each would accept as a peace deal.

“I want to see a ceasefire rapidly. I don’t know if it’s going to be today but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today,” Trump told reporters, as he stood in an aisle of the plane.

The Kremlin has said it expects the talks to last for six to seven hours.

The meeting between the two leaders is aimed at gauging the circumstances for additional meetings in the future involving delegations from both sides, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

The Russian official added that besides the “settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” trade, economic cooperation, and global security between the two countries will also be discussed.

Hours before the summit, Trump held a telephone conversation with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Belarusian state news agency BELTA reported.

Trump says he would like to see a second meeting in Alaska “soon” between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was not invited to today’s talks.

"It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelensky said.

"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," he posted on X.

Head of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Ukrainian parliament, Oleksandr Merezhko, said, “I don’t expect any breakthrough from this summit.”

Trump recently announced that Washington will be sending “massive” supplies of weapons to Ukraine, in what was described as a significant policy shift.

He also issued a 50-day deadline for a deal to be made, after which he would impose 100 percent tariffs on Russia. Late last month, Trump announced plans to shorten this deadline.

Press TV