Putin ready to make Ukraine deal, Trump says before Alaska summit

US president's comment that Russian and Ukrainian leaders may have to divvy' things up likely to raise alarm

Donald Trump has said he believes Vladimir Putin is ready to make a deal on the war in Ukraine as the two leaders prepare for their summit in Alaska on Friday, but his suggestion that the Russian leader and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could divvy things up" may alarm some in Kyiv.

The US president, who left the White House on Friday at 7.30am, implied there was a 75% chance of the Alaska meeting succeeding, and that the threat of economic sanctions may have made Putin more willing to seek an end to the war. HIGH STAKES!!!" he posted on Truth Social as his motorcade idled outside the White House shortly after sunrise in Washington.