Trump warns Putin that he should agree to a ceasefire this Friday or strict sanctions will be imposed.

After speaking with European leaders, US President Donald Trump warned he would impose “very severe consequences” if Russian President Vladimir Putin did not agree to a ceasefire this week. Trump also said he hopes to use Friday’s meeting in Alaska to arrange a “quick second meeting” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Ukraine and its European allies pressed him to pursue such a summit.

“There’s a very good chance that we’re going to have a second meeting which will be more productive than the first”, Trump told reporters Wednesday at the Kennedy Center, adding that he was “setting the table for the second meeting”.

The president’s comments indicate that he is trying to manage expectations for a full peace deal from his Anchorage, Alaska, summit with Putin and respond to concerns from his European partners who urged him to prioritize direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.