Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are set to meet today in Alaska for crunch talks on bringing the war in Ukraine to an end.
Typically confident, Trump was adamant Put would not "mess around" with him as he spoke to the media ahead of the meeting.
He insisted that if he was not the president then Put would "much rather take over all of Ukraine", adding: "But I am president, and he's not going to mess around with me."
The US president, the BBC reports, is aiming to use today's meeting to "set the table" for another meeting with both Putin and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.
He told Fox News that if today's meeting goes well, he will call Zelensky to arrange another, but cautioned that there is a "25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting".
Boundaries are expected to be a key feature in peace talks, with Trump admitting there would need to be some "give and take".
The meeting is set to take place around 8pm UK time, with the US and Russian presidents joined only by their respective translators.