Putin will exploit Trump meeting for own interests - Rada foreign policy committee chair

Vladimir Putin will use the meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska for his own interests, Oleksandr Merezhko (Servant of the People faction), the head of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and interparliamentary cooperation, has said.

"I don't think there will be any specific result or indeed a compromise. Putin will simply use this meeting for his own interests. On the one hand, Putin is absolutely not interested in an unconditional ceasefire, and on the other hand, he will try to shift the responsibility onto Ukraine, that is, to make Trump accuse Ukraine of not wanting to "compromise," which may, as Putin hopes, give Trump a reason to withdraw from the negotiation process altogether," Merezhko said in a comment to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Monday.

He noted that "we need to be prepared for lies and provocations" from Putin.

According to media reports, the meeting between Trump and Putin, announced for August 15, will most likely take place in Anchorage, Alaska.