Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday, answering a journalist's question at a press conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, that Russia must face consequences if Putin refuses to stop the war in Ukraine after their meeting in Alaska on Friday, Sky News reported.

"Yes, there will be consequences," the US president said, and when asked whether these would mean sanctions or tariffs, he simply replied:"I don't have to say. There will be very serious consequences." He added that he did not believe he could persuade Putin to stop attacking civilian targets, as he had asked for this before, to no avail.

However, Trump sees a"very good chance" that a second meeting will take place shortly after the Alaska meeting, which would also include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The second meeting may be more productive because in the first one I will rather assess where we are and what we are doing

– he said at an event at the Kennedy Center. According to the US president, if Friday's meeting with Putin"goes well," he would quickly organize a trilateral summit, but only if both sides want to be present.

However, Trump stressed that the joint summit is not at all certain. “There may not be a second meeting, because if I feel it is inappropriate to have it because we have not received the answers that we need, then we will not have it,” he said. He sees Friday's meeting as more of a “setting the table” for a possible trilateral meeting.

He has already discussed with Zelensky

As previously reported, US President Donald Trump held a video conference with several European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, two days before the Trump-Putin summit. The European leaders also held separate meetings before and after the nearly hour-long meeting. According to European leaders, the video conference was constructive, and they raised their concerns with Donald Trump, while the US president revealed his goals for Friday's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

First, at 2:00 PM, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with the EU leaders, the British, Finnish, French, Polish, and Italian heads of state and government, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Then, at 3:00 PM, Donald Trump and his vice president, J. D. Vance, who was vacationing in Great Britain, joined the call.