Trump says he hopes to get 'prime territory' back for Ukraine as he prepares for Putin summit

Donald Trump has said he would try to return territory to Ukraine as he prepares to meet Vladimir Putin and lay the groundwork for a deal to bring an end to the war.

"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," the US president said at a White House news conference ahead of Friday's summit in Alaska. Mr Trump also said: "There'll be some land swapping going on.

I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine." He said he's going to see what Mr Putin "has in mind" to end the three-and-a-half-year full-scale invasion. And he said if it's a "fair deal," he will share it with European and NATO leaders, as well as Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who have been liaising closely with Washington ahead of the meeting.

Asked if Mr Zelenskyy was invited to the summit with Mr Putin in Alaska, Mr Trump said the Ukrainian leader "wasn't a part of it". "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," Mr Trump added. The US president said Mr Putin wants to get the war "over with" and "get involved" in possible talks but acknowledged Moscow's attacks haven't stopped.

"I've said that a few times and I've been disappointed because I'd have a great call with him and then missiles would be lobbed into Kyiv or some other place," he said. Mr Trump said he will tell Mr Putin "you've got to end this war, you've got to end it," but that "it's not up to me" to make a deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Zelenskyy says Russia 'wants to buy time' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia "wants to buy time, not end the war". "It is obvious that the Russians simply want to buy time, not end the war," he wrote in a post on X, after a phone call with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney.

"The situation on the battlefield and Russia's wicked strikes on civilian infrastructure and ordinary people prove this clearly." Mr Zelenskyy said the two "agreed that no decisions concerning Ukraine's future and the security of our people can be made without Ukraine's participation.