Moscow Times journalist: Russia's neighbours are preparing for the worst | LBC

Charlie Hancock, from the Moscow Times, called James O'Brien to explain how countries on Russia's border are preparing for the further outbreak of war. 'Nato is beefing up its presence on the borders', said Hancock. She also added that lessons have been learned from the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and shared with neighouring countries. The lessons include urging civilians to film and share as much footage of opposing forces as possible. Hancock and her colleagues at the Moscow Times were kicked out of Moscow for using 'war' to describe Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The call comes as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska to discuss the war in Ukraine. Speaking from the Oval Office at the White House, Mr Trump was asked whether Putin has a "strong hand" going into his face-to-face meeting with the Russian president. He said: "If I weren't president, in my opinion, he would much rather take over all of Ukraine but I am president and he's not going to mess around with me." Mr Trump said earlier on Thursday Putin will “make a deal” on the future of Ukraine in a second meeting following a crucial US-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday. The US president said the deal could be struck following his initial meeting with Putin at a follow-up trilateral summit involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders from the so-called "coalition of the willing", including Keir Starmer. The first meeting in Alaska will not involve Mr Zelenskyy - who has so far been excluded from US-Russia talks on Ukraine - nor will leaders from Europe be included. Mr Trump said: "We have a meeting with President (Vladimir) Putin tomorrow, I think it's going to be a good meeting.