Washington rep. questions Zelenskyy exclusion from US-Russia summit

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to meet face-to-face in Alaska. The US-Russia summit talks are expected to address the war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing for more than three years.

“I am going in to speak to Vladimir Putin and I will be telling him, ‘You have to end this war. You have to end it,” Trump stated at a press conference Monday.

Trump: Zelenskyy not invited to US-Russia summit

In the same press conference, Trump said that it wasn’t up to him to make a deal. He also confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not invited to the summit.

Congressman Adam Smith (WA-D) questioned that exclusion in an interview with KIRO Newsradio.

“If Putin and Trump want to talk about how we can go about getting us closer to that point, fine, but there’s no way that Trump and Putin are going to be able to negotiate an end to this war, excluding Zelenskyy, Ukraine, and Europe,” Smith said.

The congressman went on to say that he’s not optimistic about the success of the upcoming talks.

“Trump has not put any pressure on Putin. He’s kept saying he’s going to increase sanctions, but never does. So I think Trump’s walking into this conversation from a position of weakness, and Putin is just seeing what more he can get. I don’t see any evidence that Putin is sincere in trying to get to a peace agreement,” Smith said.