"Only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said about the meeting scheduled for Friday.
"This is a listening exercise for the president."
Trump will meet one-on-one with Putin during the talks, which will take place in Anchorage, Alaska, the White House said.
He may, in the future, also visit Russia.
"Perhaps there are plans in the future to travel to Russia," Leavitt said.
Key issues remain ahead of the talks.
Trump has said the two sides will need to cede land to end the bloody three and a half-year-old conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said his country's constitution prohibits such a deal and that no arrangements can be made without Ukraine's participation in talks.
The White House declined to comment on conversations taking place prior to the Putin meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy.
Trump said on Monday that Zelenskiy may be invited to a future meeting with Putin.
"The president has deep respect for all parties that are involved in this conflict and are trying to bring this conflict to an end," Leavitt said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had consulted ahead of the summit, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow and US officials said on Tuesday.
Lavrov and Rubio expressed their hopes that the details discussed would be successful, the ministry said.
The brief statement about the phone call did not provide further specifics.
Trump presents the meeting in Alaska as an attempt to move closer to ending the fighting in Ukraine.
In this context, he spoke of a possible exchange of territories between Ukraine and Russia.
Zelensky said on Tuesday Ukraine will not relinquish the eastern part of the country occupied and controlled by Russia.
He stressed in a conversation with reporters that the country could not and would not give up Donbass, largely made up of the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.
"Donbass would be a springboard for the Russians for a new, future attack," he said.
with DPA
