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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will
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meet on Friday for a peace summit in
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Alaska. Trump will hope to fulfill a
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long-term political promise to finally
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end the war in Ukraine. The hastily
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arranged meeting has thrown up a number
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of major questions around the shape of a
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potential peace. Is Putin in any way
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serious about peace talks? Will Trump
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force Ukraine to give territory over to
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Russia? And will Vladimir Zalinski even
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be involved in the summit? On that last
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point, Trump's ambassador to NATO has
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suggested that Silinsky could be.
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Matthew Whitaker has said that he
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certainly thinks it's possible that he
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could attempt if Trump decides that this
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is the best way to break the impass.
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This, of course, contradicts Vice
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President JD Vance, who said over the
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weekend that it would not be productive
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for Zilinsky to be involved in the
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talks. Vance is currently spending the
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summer touring picturesque parts of the
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UK, but he did take a break from his
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holiday to suggest to the press over the
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weekend that Trump and Putin could be
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forced to meet. And he implied that the
1:01
US is growing impatient after three and
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a half years of war. There has been a
1:05
pattern and we've reported on it before
1:07
since Trump took office for the second
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time in January that the president often
1:12
forces a surge of diplomatic momentum
1:14
around a peace but then himself doesn't
1:16
really properly enforce Putin's end of
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the bargain. So for instance earlier
1:20
this year there were peace talks in
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Istanbul but they never really got off
1:24
the ground because the Kremlin ended up
1:26
just sending junior representatives and
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they weren't really cleared to properly
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discuss a piece or put anything forward.
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There has been a widespread view that
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Russia has not been approaching the
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talks in good faith. And more recently,
1:39
a senior British MP, the former defense
1:42
and foreign minister Tobias Elwood has
1:44
predicted that these talks on Friday are
1:46
probably going to unravel. He predicted
1:49
in an interview on BBC News that despite
1:52
the massive pressure on the US to
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deliver a peace deal, Trump would
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probably at best deliver an
1:58
unsustainable peace. with Putin coming
2:00
back for more territory from Ukraine. He
2:03
compared the situation to that of 1938
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when the policy of appeasement followed
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by major European powers allowed Hitler
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to seize swaves of Eastern Europe. And
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don't forget, Trump once promised to end
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the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. He does
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badly want a deal, but many in Ukraine
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and in the broader European defense
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community are extremely worried about
2:26
what he's willing to sacrifice,
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particularly in terms of territory, to
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get the deal over the line. For
2:32
everything you need to know about the
2:33
story, stick with cityam.com.
