Trump warns of 'severe consequences' if Putin does not work toward peace in Alaska summit

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he warned Russia that it would face "very severe consequences" if Russian President Vladimir Putin did not agree to end the war in Ukraine during an upcoming summit in Alaska.

Trump and Putin are expected to meet in Anchorage on Friday to discuss a ceasefire and a potential end to Russia's years-long war in Ukraine. Russia has indicated that it wants to keep control of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the Donbas region of Ukraine before agreeing to an end to the conflict, but Ukraine said it would not cede the region.

The president said he would not negotiate territorial matters with Putin at the summit after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that decisions made without Ukraine would constitute "dead decisions" that would "never work." 

"There will be consequences," Trump stated during a press conference at the Kennedy Center when asked what would happen if there was no agreement, but did not expand on what the consequences would be.

Zelensky, who was part of a virtual conversation with Trump and other European leaders on Wednesday, said he warned Trump and his other allies that Russia was "bluffing" when it came to seeking a peace agreement.

"I told my colleagues, the U.S. president and our European friends, that Putin definitely does not want peace," Zelensky said, per ABC News. "He wants the occupation of our country. And we all really understand that. Putin will not be able to deceive anyone. We need further pressure for peace. Not only American, but also European sanctions."

Trump said Zelensky will not be at the meeting in Alaska but that he expects to have a trilateral meeting with Russia and Ukraine soon, though he said it would depend on how Friday's meeting goes.

"There's a very good chance that we're going to have a second meeting, which will be more productive than the first, because the first is — I'm going to find out where we are and what we're doing," Trump said. "There may be no second meeting because if I feel that it's not appropriate to have it because I didn't get the answers that we have to have."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.