'Probing positions': Trump tells what to expect from Alaska summit

US President Donald Trump on Monday sought to lower expectations for his upcoming talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a ceasefire in Ukraine, Bloomberg writes. He called the summit a "probing" of positions to see if a diplomatic solution is possible.

"I'm going to talk to Vladimir Putin and tell him, 'You have to stop this war,'" Trump said at a White House press conference. At the same time, he emphasized that it is not for him to "decide whether to conclude."

"I'm traveling to see the conditions," he explained. - "I might come out, say, 'Good luck,' and that will be the end of it. I can say that this issue will not be settled," he emphasized.

Trump made it clear that he has no plans to invite Vladimir Zelensky to the meeting. "He's been to a lot of meetings already," Trump said. - You know, he's been there for three and a half years and nothing's happened."

Instead, the US president plans to hold a phone conversation with Zelensky and Ukraine's European allies after his meeting with Putin. According to Trump, he will either outline to them the contours of a possible deal or say that he does not believe a peace agreement is possible.

Trump and Putin are expected to hold a summit on August 15 in Alaska. It will be the first visit by a Russian president to the United States in almost a decade, Bloomberg notes. Last week, the agency's sources said that Russia is demanding that Kiev withdraw its troops from the Donbass regions under its control. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, in turn, said that Kiev would not cede the territories. Trump said on Monday that during the talks, the U.S. would "try to return" some of the territories occupied by Russia to Ukraine.

Against the background of the preparation of negotiations on a possible settlement, investors began to sell off shares of European defense companies, which benefit from the growth of defense spending. Quotes of German defense concerns Rheinmetall and Hensoldt on August 11 fell by 4.6% and 0.6%, respectively. Shares of the Italian military-industrial holding Leonardo SpA fell by 0.7%, the French defense company Thales SA - by 0.3%. Shares of British defense giant BAE Systems fell by 1.2% in London.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor