Welcome to the NewsHour. President Trump today issued a new threat to punish Russia if it doesn't end the war in Ukraine just two days before a high-stakes summit in Anchorage with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Trump also spoke with European leaders, including Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who said that Mr. Trump agreed to their principles on the best way to try and end the bloody three-and-a-half-year war.

Nick Schiffran reports.

As Ukrainian soldiers today struggle to hold the front line,

5,000 miles away, President Trump lobbed a new threat at Russian President Putin.

Do Russia face any consequences if Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop the war after your meeting on Friday?

Yes, they will.

There will be consequences.

There will be, I don't have to say there will be very severe consequences.

U.S. officials tell PBS News hour President Trump could target Russian energy exports or countries

that import Russian oil.

But President Trump has made similar threats before, and he would only punish Putin if, and

it's a big if, President Trump concludes Putin is unwilling to end the war. If Friday's Anchorage

Summit goes well, President Trump said today he would push for a follow-up meeting with Ukrainian

President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin.

If the first one goes okay, we'll have a quick second one. I would like to do it almost

immediately. And we'll have a quick second meeting between

President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself if they'd like to have me there. If the

second meeting takes place, now there may be no second meeting, because if I feel that it's not

appropriate to have it, because I didn't get the answers that we have to have,

then we're not going to have a second meeting.

In Berlin today, Zelensky, alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, met with other European

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