From peace broker to listener: Trump tempers expectations ahead of Alaska summit with Putin

US President Donald Trump will travel to Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday for a rare face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin — but the White House is playing down expectations of an immediate breakthrough to end the war in Ukraine.

“This is a listening exercise for the President,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “Only one party that’s involved in this war is going to be present. And so this is for the President to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.”

The meeting, Leavitt said, came at Putin’s request, relayed through Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who travelled to Russia for talks. “The President of Russia asked the President of the United States to meet through his special envoy… and so the President is agreeing to this meeting at the request of President Putin.”

“The goal of this meeting for the President is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war. And the President said at this podium yesterday ..., that he hopes in the future there can be a trilateral meeting with these three leaders to finally bring this conflict to an end,” she said.

“But this administration has really used every lever, has taken every measure to achieve peace through a diplomatic solution. And 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,” Leavitte said.

Not a Deal Table—Yet

While Trump has repeatedly expressed confidence in his ability to broker peace deals — most recently pointing to last week’s White House-hosted agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan — Leavitt emphasised that the Alaska session was not designed to produce a signed accord.

“The President has always said he wants a peace deal. He wants to see this war come to an end,” she said. “But this bilateral meeting is a bilateral meeting between one party in this two-party war. You need both countries to agree to a deal.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not be at the table, though Trump spoke with him ahead of the summit. “We continue to be very much engaged with President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians, but also our allies in Europe as well,” Leavitt said, noting that Trump’s first call after receiving Witkoff’s report from Moscow was to Zelenskyy.

Diplomacy by Proximity

Anchorage was selected after “many sites” were discussed, Leavitt said, because “Alaska is a state within the United States of America. So the President is very honoured and looks forward to hosting President Putin on American soil.”

Leavitt said Trump believes direct leader-to-leader meetings offer a unique opportunity. “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.”

Measuring Success

When asked how the President would define success from the meeting, Leavitt avoided specifics. “I think I just answered that question for you in what the goal and the expectation of the meeting is. And I won’t jump ahead of any hypotheticals and I’ll leave it to the President to speak to all of you after the meeting.”

Pressed on whether Trump might walk away if he believed Putin was “not serious about ending this war,” she said: “I won’t jump ahead of any hypotheticals… I’m very confident he will address the press afterward.”

Shifting Tone

The shift from touting potential deals to describing Friday’s talks as exploratory marks a notable recalibration in the White House’s messaging. Last week, Trump spoke at the podium about his hopes for a possible agreement; this week, Leavitt stressed that the meeting was “for the President to go and… hopefully bring this war to an end” by first listening.

Still, the press secretary cast Trump as a uniquely committed peacemaker. “There is no leader in the world right now who has been more committed to preventing wars or ending them than President Donald Trump,” she said.

(Courtesy: www.5wh.com)