President Donald Trump wants to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept a ceasefire and serious negotiations toward ending the war in Ukraine . As a first step, Trump should publicly gift Putin a FIFA 2026 World Cup soccer ball at their meeting in Alaska on Friday. Putin will get the message.

The White House said the meeting will be a “listening exercise” for Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump wants to see if a face-to-face meeting, instead of another failed phone call, can make progress toward Ukraine peace. As Rubio put it, Trump wants “to look this guy in the eye … I think we’re going to know very early in that meeting whether this thing has any chance of success or not.”

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