US President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged his high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin may fail, and said any Ukraine deal would come through a future three-way meeting with Kiev to "divvy things up."
Russian President Vladimir Putin flies to Alaska on Friday at the invitation of Trump in his first visit to a Western country.
The Kremlin said that the two presidents planned to meet one-on-one, heightening fears by European leaders that Putin will cajole Trump into a settlement imposed on Ukraine.
Trump, on the eve of the summit, insisted that he would not finalise any deal with Putin and that he would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in any decisions.
Zelenskyy refuses any territorial concessions
"This meeting sets up the second meeting, but there is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting," Trump told Fox News Radio.
"The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that's going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don't want to use the word 'divvy' things up. But you know, to a certain extent, it's not a bad term," Trump said.
Zelenskyy has refused any territorial concessions to Russia, which has ramped up attacks and made sharp gains on the battlefield just ahead of the summit.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any future deal needed to ensure Ukraine's security.
Rubio 'hopeful' about summit
"To achieve peace, I think we all recognise that there'll have to be some conversation about security guarantees," Rubio told reporters in Washington, saying he was "hopeful" about the summit.
Trump has previously ruled out letting Ukraine join NATO and backed Russia's stance that Kiev's aspirations to enter the transatlantic alliance triggered the war.
Ukraine and most of its European allies reject Putin's narrative and point to his remarks denying the historical legitimacy of Ukraine.US President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged his high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin may fail, and said any Ukraine deal would come through a future three-way meeting with Kiev to "divvy things up."
Russian President Vladimir Putin flies to Alaska on Friday at the invitation of Trump in his first visit to a Western country.
The Kremlin said that the two presidents planned to meet one-on-one, heightening fears by European leaders that Putin will cajole Trump into a settlement imposed on Ukraine.
Trump, on the eve of the summit, insisted that he would not finalise any deal with Putin and that he would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in any decisions.
Zelenskyy refuses any territorial concessions
"This meeting sets up the second meeting, but there is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting," Trump told Fox News Radio.
"The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that's going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don't want to use the word 'divvy' things up. But you know, to a certain extent, it's not a bad term," Trump said.
Zelenskyy has refused any territorial concessions to Russia, which has ramped up attacks and made sharp gains on the battlefield just ahead of the summit.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any future deal needed to ensure Ukraine's security.
Rubio 'hopeful' about summit
"To achieve peace, I think we all recognise that there'll have to be some conversation about security guarantees," Rubio told reporters in Washington, saying he was "hopeful" about the summit.
Trump has previously ruled out letting Ukraine join NATO and backed Russia's stance that Kiev's aspirations to enter the transatlantic alliance triggered the war.
Ukraine and most of its European allies reject Putin's narrative and point to his remarks denying the historical legitimacy of Ukraine.
