Trump said the Alaska summit is meant to ‘set the table’ for direct talks between Putin and Zelensky.

‘If it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly,’ Trump said Thursday.

ANCHORAGE — Vladimir Putin is lavishing praise on President Trump ahead of their high-stakes summit in Alaska on Friday, thanking his host for “energetic and sincere efforts to stop the fighting” in Ukraine over three years since the Russian leader attempted to conquer the country.

Trump, at the White House, also expressed optimism ahead of the talks, telling reporters he believes Putin “would like to see a deal” after suffering more than a million Russian casualties on the battlefield.

Yet Russian Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday that Putin’s war aims remain “ unchanged .” And an aggressive Russian

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