WASHINGTON/MOSCOW: A highly anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Moscow’s war in Ukraine, although both leaders described the talks as productive before heading home.
During a brief appearance before the media following Friday’s nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska, the two leaderssaid they had made progress on unspecified issues. But they offered no details and took no questions, with the normally loquacious Trump ignoring shouted questions from reporters.
“We’ve made some headway,” Trump said, standing in front of a backdrop that read, “Pursuing Peace.”
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he added.
The talks did not initially appear to have produced meaningful steps toward a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, the deadliest conflict in Europe in 80 years, a goal Trump had set ahead of the summit.
But simply sitting down face-to-face with the U.S. president represented a victory for Putin, who had been ostracized by Western leaders since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Following the summit, Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he would hold off on imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil after making progress with Putin. He did not mention India, another major buyer of Russian crude, which has been slapped with a total 50% tariff on U.S. imports that includes a 25% penalty for the imports from Russia.
“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump said of Chinese tariffs. “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”
Trump says Putin summit a prelude to real Ukraine dealmaking
Trump has threatened sanctions on Moscow as well but has thus far not followed through, even after Putin ignored a Trump-imposed ceasefire deadline earlier this month.
In the Fox News interview, Trump also suggested a meeting would now be set up between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which he might also attend. He gave no further details on who was organizing the meeting or when it might be.
Putin made no mention of meeting Zelenskiy when speaking to reporters earlier. He said he expected Ukraine and its European allies to accept the results of the U.S.-Russia negotiation constructively and not try to “disrupt the emerging progress.”
He also repeated Moscow’s long-held position that what Russia claims to be the “root causes” of the conflict must be eliminated to reach a long-term peace, a sign he remains resistant to a ceasefire.
There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the summit, the first meeting between Putin and a U.S. president since the war began.
‘Gotta make a deal’
Trump signaled that he discussed potential land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine with Putin, telling Hannity: “I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on.”
“I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” he said, adding: “Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.”
When asked by Hannity what he would advise Zelenskiy, Trump said, “Gotta make a deal.”
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“Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not,” Trump added. The war has killed or injured well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts.
Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. Trump said he would call Zelenskiy and NATO leaders to update them on the Alaska talks.
Trump was due to arrive back in Washington early on Saturday morning.
As the two leaders were talking, the war raged on, with most eastern Ukrainian regions under air raid alerts. Governors of Russia’s Rostov and Bryansk regions reported that some of their territories were under Ukrainian drone attacks.
Russia’s air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight over various Russian regions, including 10 downed over the Rostov region, RIA agency reported on Saturday, citing the Russian defense ministry.
The anticlimactic end to the closely watched summit was in stark contrast to the pomp and circumstance with which it began. When Putin arrived at an Air Force base in Alaska, a red carpet awaited him, where Trump greeted the Russian president warmly as U.S. military aircraft flew overhead.
Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court, accused of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia denies the allegations, and the Kremlin has dismissed the ICC warrant as null and void. Russia and the United States are not members of the court.
‘Next time in Moscow’
Zelenskiy, who was not invited to Alaska, and his European allies had feared Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict and recognizing – if only informally – Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine.
Trump had sought to assuage such concerns on Friday ahead of the talks, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial concessions.
Trump will seek to squeeze Ukraine ceasefire deal out of Putin at Alaska summit
Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly … I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today … I want the killing to stop.”
The meeting also included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Trump’s special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff; Russian foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov; and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Trump, who said during his presidential campaign that he would end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He had said if Friday’s talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be more important than his encounter with Putin.
Trump ended his remarks on Friday by telling Putin, “I’d like to thank you very much, and we’ll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon.”
“Next time in Moscow,” a smiling Putin responded in English. Trump said he might “get a little heat on that one” but that he could “possibly see it happening.”
Zelenskiy said ahead of Friday’s summit that the meeting should open the way for a “just peace” and three-way talks that included him, but added that Russia was continuing to wage war.
“It’s time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
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