Trump says he and Putin will discuss land swaps at Friday's summit on Ukraine war

Donald Trump has confirmed that he and Vladimir Putin will discuss "land swapping" when they meet on Friday in Alaska for a high-stakes summit on the Ukraine war.

- Patrick Wintour Andrew Roth

But the US president expressed frustration with Volodymyr Zelenskyy for putting conditions on such a potential agreement.

During a news conference at the White House yesterday, Trump said he was frustrated with Zelenskyy's insistence that Ukraine would need to hold a referendum on any peace deal that stipulated recognising Russian control over territory that it has occupied during the war.

"I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying I have to get constitutional approval," Trump said. "He has approval to go to war and kill everybody but he needs approval to do a land swap. Because there will be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody."

European diplomats have been taken aback by the lack of clarity on the US side about the territories Putin is demanding from Ukraine and the terms of a ceasefire. This has only added to a fear that Trump, inflating his personal relationship with Putin, could make damaging concessions.

Describing his vision for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said an agreement would include "good stuff, not bad stuff, also some bad stuff for both". "We're going to change the lines, the battle lines," he added.