KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he warned US President Donald Trump ahead of his talks with Vladimir Putin this week that the Russian leader is “bluffing” about his desire to end the war. Trump and Putin will meet in Alaska on Friday, where Kyiv and its allies are worried the two leaders may try to dictate the terms of peace in the 3-1/2-year 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.

The Ukrainian president, who has not been invited to the Alaska meeting, says he will not allow any territorial concessions in a peace deal.

Many Ukrainians and experts believe Russia’s Putin will seek to dupe Trump while expanding gains in eastern Ukraine.