Ahead of Putin sitdown, Trump says he hopes to get 'prime territory' back for Ukraine

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he would try to return territory to Ukraine as he prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and lay the groundwork for a deal to bring an end to the grinding multiyear war between Ukraine and Russia.“Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he would try to return territory to Ukraine as he prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and lay the groundwork for a deal to bring an end to the grinding multiyear war between Ukraine and Russia.

“Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They’ve occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” Trump said at a news conference at the White House.

Trump said he’s going to see what Putin “has in mind” to end the war and, if it’s a “fair deal,” he will share it with European and NATO leaders, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who have been liaising closely with Washington ahead of the meeting.

Asked Monday if Zelenskyy was invited to the meeting Friday with Putin in Alaska, Trump said that the Ukrainian leader “wasn’t a part of it” and that despite his having participated in numerous sitdowns over the course of the war, little has come of them. “I would say he could go, but he’s gone to a lot of meetings. You know, he’s been there for three and a half years — nothing happened,” Trump added.

The president's first call out of the Putin meeting, which he referred to as “really a feel-out,” would be to Zelenskyy “out of respect.” He noted that he might tell Zelenskyy "‘lots of luck, keep fighting,’ or I may say, ‘We can make a deal.’"