‘Absolute distrust’: Europe skeptical ahead of Trump-Putin summit

European leaders are waiting to see what results from the latest discussions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump as the leaders convene in Alaska Friday.

“[There’s] absolute distrust in even the slightest idea that Putin wants peace because he keeps annihilating Ukraine,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told Fox News Digital during her trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with Pentagon officials this week.

“Even now, when your president has clearly stated that he wants this war to end, and basically provides an opportunity for Putin to talk, still every single day and night, until those talks, he keeps bombing civilians,” she added. “He keeps annihilating Ukrainian land.”

COULD TRUMP’S MEETING WITH PUTIN BE THE NEXT REAGAN-GORBACHEV MOMENT?

The United Nations on Wednesday confirmed that Russian attacks in Ukraine last month led to civilian casualty rates not seen since Putin first launched his invasion in 2022. 

“For the second month in a row, the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine hits a new three-year high,” Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, said in a statement.

“Only the first three months after the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine saw more killed and injured than in this past month.” 

Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin is significant because it is not only the first time Putin will return to the U.S. in a decade. It is the first time a U.S. leader has met with the Kremlin chief since he launched the invasion of Ukraine 3½ years ago.

But skepticism over whether the meeting will yield any results remains high, particularly after several seemingly positive calls between the pair earlier this year, which only amounted to a frustrated Trump and Putin’s continued bombardment of Ukraine. 

A Ukrainian soldier walks with children passing destroyed cars due to the war against Russia, in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

“We in Europe, we know on our own skin that Russia, and Putin specifically, does deliver only violence,” the Lithuanian defense minister said. “They do break every deal they have ever made. They do keep that…