Washington, Aug. 14 -- Ahead of his Friday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, US President Donald Trump expressed confidence that Putin is now ready to pursue peace.

The summit is scheduled for August 15 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

"I think President Putin will make peace and President Zelensky will make peace," Trump told reporters.

Asked if the US is prepared to offer Putin access to rare minerals as an incentivise to end the war, Trump replied, "We're going to see what happens with our meeting. We have a big meeting. It's going to be, I think, very important for Russia, and it's going to be very important for us and important for us only that we're going to save a lot of lives."

"But what I'm...