White House says Zelensky not invited to Alaska summit because Russia initiated meeting

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday told reporters that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited to the upcoming peace summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin because Russia was the one who extended the invitation.

Zelensky has slammed the Friday meeting by reminding the leaders that Ukraine must be involved in all peace negotiations, claiming any decision made without the country would constitute "dead decisions" that would "never work." 

Trump and Putin are expected to meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss a ceasefire and a potential end to the years-long war in Ukraine. Russia began this current war by invading its neighbor in 2022.

"The president is agreeing to this meeting, at the request of President Putin," Leavitt said in a press briefing. "The goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war.

"I think the president of the United States getting in the room with the president of Russia, sitting face-to-face rather than speaking over the telephone will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed," she added.

The comment comes after Trump told reporters Monday that he expected to know within minutes of meeting Putin whether he was serious about concluding the war, which he warned could include territorial concessions from both countries.

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 war, but Zelensky said Ukraine would not cede the region.

“We will never leave Donbas, we cannot do this," Zelensky told reporters, per Politico. “Donbas for the Russians is a springboard for a future new offensive. If today we leave Donbas, from our fortifications, from our reliefs, from the heights that we control, we will clearly open a bridgehead for preparing an offensive by the Russians.

"In a few years, Putin will have an open path to both the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions. And not only that. Also to Kharkiv," he added.

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