US President Donald Trump looks on next to Russian President Vladimir Putin
Credit: Reuters photo
Anchorage: President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their summit in Alaska on Friday without declaring agreement on any issue, much less the one Trump said was at the top of his agenda, ending the war in Ukraine.
At a joint appearance after their nearly three-hour meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Trump gave a vague but positive assessment that progress had been made, saying, “Many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left.” But he did not describe those points, or even specify that they had to do with Ukraine.
“We’ve made some headway,” he said. “So there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
Moments earlier, Putin had signaled no change in his hard-line position on Ukraine, claiming that it “has to do with fundamental threats to our security.”
“We’re convinced that in order to make the settlement lasting and long-term, we need to eliminate all of the primary causes of the conflict,” he said, repeating the phrasing he and other Russian officials have used to refer to a list of Kremlin positions that Ukraine — and, for the most part, the West — have called unacceptable.
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede a large part of its land to Russia, disarm, swear off joining NATO and change governments.
Putin referred obliquely to agreements between him and Trump, without elaborating, and added, “We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive that constructively and will not throw a wrench in the works.”
Putin also gave Trump a major public relations boost, endorsing Trump’s claim that if he had been in the White House, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“Today President Trump was saying that if he was president back then there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so,” Putin said. “I can confirm that.”
Trump said he would soon call NATO leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others to inform them of what had been said in the meeting.
Before they left without taking questions from the hundreds of journalists assembled, Trump said, “Probably see you again very soon.”
“Next time in Moscow,” Putin replied in English.
“Ooh, that’s an interesting one,” Trump said. “I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.”
Earlier Friday, aboard Air Force One on the way to Alaska, Trump told reporters: “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly. I don’t know if it’s going to be today. But I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.”
The Russians will want to make business deals, he added, but that will not happen “until we get the war settled.”
In a separate airborne interview with Fox News, Trump said “I would walk” if Putin balked at a deal to end the fighting.
But emerging from the meeting without such a deal, he and Putin were upbeat and praised each other.
The news conference followed a strikingly warm welcome for Putin, who has been shunned for years by Western leaders. Though Putin is under U.S. sanctions and subject to an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Ukraine, the greeting Trump gave him on the tarmac had trappings usually reserved for an esteemed peer.
They smiled broadly, shook hands for the cameras and walked together down a red carpet. U.S. warplanes, including a B2 bomber, flew over them in formation.
Then, Putin, who speaks English well enough to hold a conversation, and Trump got into the U.S. presidential limousine, where they sat side by side without an interpreter. It is highly unusual to see the leaders of two superpowers — adversarial ones, especially — ride together in the same vehicle.