President Donald Trump framed his Friday summit with Vladimir Putin as a moment to feel out the Russian leader’s parameters for ending the war in Ukraine and acknowledged it would take further meetings to strike a final peace deal.

Axar.az reports according to CNN, “I think it’ll be good,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “But it might be bad.”

It was the clearest picture yet of what Trump hopes to accomplish Friday in Alaska, where urgent preparations are now underway for the first US-Russia leaders summit in more than four years. Trump, who once promised to end the war in Ukraine within a day of taking office, said he would know within two minutes during Friday’s meeting whether such a resolution is even possible.

“I may leave and say, ‘good luck,’ and that’ll be the end. I may say this is not going to be settled,” he said.

Trump signaled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would not participate in Friday’s summit, though the US president previewed his plans to phone Zelensky immediately after the meeting, along with other European leaders, to brief them on the session with Putin.

Trump said his goal is ultimately to get Putin and Zelensky in the same room to hash out their differences, and surmised only they would be able to find a way to end the war – almost certainly, he said, with some “land swapping” between them.

“I’m not going to make a deal,” Trump said. “It’s not up to me to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both.”

Trump was speaking as American officials rush to finalize details ahead of Friday’s summit, with both logistical and geopolitical issues still unsettled four days ahead of the momentous sit-down.

As of Monday, no venue for the summit had been announced. Administration officials were making their way to Alaska — selected for its centrality to Washington and Moscow — to scope out where, exactly, the US and Russian presidents would meet.

Officials were also working to clarify the contours of the two men’s expected discussion, which Trump hopes can yield significant progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.

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