No ‘deal’ for Ukraine and many unanswered questions: The summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended without any tangible results. Although both Trump and Putin described Friday's meeting (local time) as ‘productive,’ they did not comment on the details of their discussions. ‘There is no deal until there is a deal,’ said the US president. He later emphasised that an agreement now depends on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Putin called the first bilateral summit with Trump in seven years ‘constructive’ and described the atmosphere of the talks as ‘respectful’. ‘We hope that the understanding we have reached (...) will pave the way for peace in Ukraine,’ he emphasised after the three-hour talks. At the same time, the Kremlin leader called on Ukraine and the Europeans not to ‘undermine a peaceful solution through provocations or intrigues behind the scenes’.
For his part, Trump spoke of an ‘extremely productive meeting’ with Putin that had yielded many results. Only ‘very few’ issues remain unresolved, Trump said, without giving details. ‘We are not there yet, but we have a very good chance of getting there,’ the US president emphasised. He said he would inform NATO allies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shortly.
Putin reiterated that a peaceful solution in Ukraine requires ‘restoring a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole.’ He had ‘said more than once that the events in Ukraine pose fundamental threats to Russia's national security,’ Putin emphasised.
The Russian leader extended a reciprocal invitation to Trump. ‘Next time in Moscow,’ Putin said in English. ‘Oh, that's interesting,’ Trump replied. ‘I'll get a little criticism for that, but I could imagine it possibly happening.’ The two leaders did not take questions from journalists.
Shortly after the summit, Trump said in an interview with Fox News, referring to a ‘deal’: ‘Now it really depends on President Zelensky whether this succeeds. I would also say that the European nations need to get a little involved, but it depends on President Zelensky.’
Originally, Trump and Putin wanted to hold private talks in Alaska with only interpreters present. But then the US side expanded the group to include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin brought Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov to the talks. The motto of the hastily organised summit was ‘Pursuing Peace’.
As unclear as the results of the summit were, Trump's reception of Putin in Anchorage in the north-west of the US was grandiose. He had a red carpet rolled out for the Kremlin leader at the airfield of the US military base Elmendorf-Richardson. Trump applauded Putin as the Kremlin leader, who had been ostracized by the West for years, walked towards him from the plane. The two presidents then shook hands for a long time, laughed and talked to each other. On a podium bearing the inscription ‘Alaska 2025,’ Trump and Putin shook hands again before getting into Trump's armoured presidential limousine together.
It was the first bilateral summit between Trump and Putin since a meeting in the Finnish capital Helsinki in July 2018. For Putin, it was also the first reception by a US president since he gave the order for Russia's major attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
The Kremlin leader was subsequently isolated by the US and its allies for years, and in March 2023, the International Criminal Court even issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes. Critics therefore accused Trump of giving Putin a major platform again for the first time.
In recent days, Trump had emphasised that the summit with Putin was primarily intended to prepare for a three-way meeting with Zelensky. However, there was no mention of this after the summit. Trump also did not repeat his threat of ‘very serious consequences’ for Russia if the attacks on Ukraine did not end immediately. Just a week ago, the US president had allowed an ultimatum to Putin to pass without consequence.
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