US President Donald Trump has said that if his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin goes well, he would like to have a quick second meeting with Mr Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and himself.
"If the first one goes okay, we'll have a quick second one," Mr Trump told reporters.
"I would like to do it almost immediately, and we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself, if they'd like to have me there."
Mr Trump did not provide a timeframe for a second meeting. He is to meet Mr Putin in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday.
Mr Trump also said Russia would face consequences if Mr Putin does not agree to stop the war. "Yes, they will," he said when asked.
He did not spell out the consequences but he has warned of stiff economic sanctions if no breakthrough can be achieved.
Mr Trump spoke after holding talks via telephone with European leaders and Mr Zelensky about his meeting with Mr Putin.
"We had a very good call. He was on the call. President Zelenskiy was on the call. I would rate it a 10, very friendly," he said.
Earlier Mr Zelensky said he hoped the talks between Mr Trump and Mr Putin would centre on a ceasefire, adding that he warned Mr Trump that the Russian leader was "bluffing" about his desire to end the war.
"I told the US president and all our European colleagues that Putin is bluffing," he said at a joint briefing in Berlin with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
"He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine." Mr Zelensky added that he wanted a three-leader meeting, saying no talks about Ukraine should exclude Kyiv.
Speaking following this afternoon's meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Mr Trump said Ukraine must be involved in talks about territory in any ceasefire deal with Russia.
The talks between Mr Trump, European leaders, and Mr Zelensky were intended to shape Mr Trump's meeting with Mr Putin.
Mr Trump's insistence on involving Ukraine, if confirmed, could bring a measure of relief to Ukraine and its allies, who have feared that Mr Trump and Mr Putin could reach a deal that sells out Europe's and Ukraine's security interests and proposes to carve up Ukraine's territory.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe, the United States and NATO had strengthened their common ground for Ukraine.
"We have had a very good call," Ms von der Leyen wrote on X after attending the virtual meeting.
"Today Europe, the US and NATO have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine," von der Leyen said, adding that "we will remain in close coordination. Nobody wants peace more than us, a just and lasting peace."
Together with @POTUS, @ZelenskyyUa and other European leaders, we have had a very good call.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 13, 2025
We exchanged on the upcoming bilateral meeting in Alaska.
Today Europe, the US and NATO have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine.
We will remain in close coordination. Nobody…
Mr Merz said Ukraine must be part of any further talks following the planned meeting in Alaska.
"Ukraine must be at the table when follow-up meetings take place," Mr Merz said, adding that "a ceasefire must come first" before any peace negotiations.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said a "viable" chance of reaching a ceasefire in the Ukraine war now exists because of Mr Trump's work but Britain stands ready to "increase pressure" on Russia if necessary.
Mr Trump and Mr Putin are due to meet in Alaska on Friday for talks on how to end the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict, the biggest in Europe since World War Two.
Mr Trump has said both sides will have to swap land to end fighting that has cost tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions.
On a day of intense diplomacy, Mr Zelensky flew into Berlin for German-hosted virtual meetings with European leaders and then with Mr Trump.
The Europeans worry that a land swap could leave Russia with almost a fifth of Ukraine and embolden Mr Putin to expand further west into the future.
Since announcing the Alaska summit, Mr Trump has played down expectations for the talks, saying it would be a "feel-out" meeting as he seeks to end Moscow's war on Ukraine.
In a first video conference earlier, Mr Zelensky and his host, Mr Merz, met the leaders of Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Poland and the European Union as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to discuss their pitch to Mr Trump and try and shape the outcome of Friday's summit.
Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance later joined the conversation, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The unpredictability of the summit in Alaska has fuelled Europeans' fears that the US and Russia could take far-reaching decisions over their heads and even seek to coerce Ukraine into an unfavourable deal.
"We are focusing now to ensure that it does not happen - engaging with US partners and staying coordinated and united on the European side," said one senior official from Eastern Europe.
Wary of angering Mr Trump, European leaders have repeatedly said they welcome his efforts while stressing that there should be no deal about Ukraine without Ukraine's participation.
Mr Trump's administration tempered expectations on Tuesday, telling reporters the summit would be a "listening exercise" for him to hear what it would take to get to a deal.
Mr Trump's agreement last week to the summit was an abrupt shift after weeks of voicing frustration with Mr Putin for resisting the US peace initiative. Mr Trump said his envoy had made "great progress" at talks in Moscow.
Half a dozen senior European officials told Reuters that they see a risk of a deal being struck that is unfavourable for Europe and Ukraine's security. They said European unity would be vital if that happened.
Battlefield pressure mounts on Ukraine
A Gallup poll released last week found that 69% of Ukrainians favour a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible. But polls also indicate Ukrainians do not want peace at any cost if that means crushing concessions.
Ahead of the calls, Mr Zelensky said it would be impossible for Kyiv to agree to a deal that would require it to withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region, a large swathe of which is already occupied by Russia.
That, he told reporters yesterday, would deprive Ukraine of a vast defensive network in the region, easing the way for a Russian push deeper into Ukraine in the future.
He said territorial issues could only be discussed once a ceasefire was in place and Ukraine had received security guarantees. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexei Fadeev said Moscow's stance had not changed since it was set out by Mr Putin in June 2024.
As preconditions for a ceasefire and the start of negotiations, the Kremlin leader had demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from four regions that Russia has claimed as its own but does not fully control, and formally renounce its plans to join NATO.
Kyiv swiftly rejected the conditions as tantamount to surrender.
