Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ended their three-hour private summit in Alaska on Friday night without reaching a deal to stop the war in Ukraine and sanctions heading towards the Russian path.
The conference held at Anchorage Air Force Base was the first time both men had met since 2019, but despite the accumulation and the “pursuit of peace” background behind them, there was no progress in the main issues.
Trump said they agreed with “a lot of points,” but admitted they hadn’t reached the big one. “So, there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he said, summarizing what ended up in a three-hour consultation with no actual results.
Putin also made a short comment. Ukraine and its European partners have warned not to ruin “progress,” but nothing has been presented. There were no questions from the press. There are no signed documents. Only the two presidents in front of the microphone offer no vague words and commitments.
Zelenskiy has been locked out as Trump is aiming for the second round
Within the base, Trump was caught between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkov. Putin came with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov.
They met in a safe room while the clock was checked, and the biggest headline in the end was the lack of it. Trump’s original goal was to launch a contract to end the war that began in February 2022, when Putin committed to meeting Volodymyr Zelenskiy and when Russia invaded Ukraine.
However, Zelenskiy didn’t even invite him. The fear from Kiev and the European capitals was largely that Trump had kept the territory Russia has already been taken and took control of Moscow for around 20% of Ukraine’s land.
Trump tried to calm those fears down. He said he wasn’t there to “negotiate for Ukraine” but just to push everyone to the table. “I want you to stop the killing,” he said before boarding the Air Force.
The murder never stopped. On the same day of the summit, Russian missiles raided the Dnipropetrovsk area, killing one person and wounding another. Zelenskiy was not sitting quietly. He posted on Telegram, “It’s time to end the war, so we have to take the necessary measures to Russia. We are counting on America.”
But from Anchorage, Trump had nothing concrete to give him.
Putin comes out on optics, Trump leaves a question
Putin may not have secured a deal, but he has got what he thought he wanted.
Even as the aggressive International Criminal Court accused Ukrainian children of deporting them, Moscow has denied him, he has now waved Trump’s hands, walked the red carpet and shared the stage. The warrants did not affect this summit as neither country is a member of the ICC.
Trump has rolled out a welcoming treatment. he I greeted Putin shaking his hand and tapping his arm before riding the summit sight in a Trump limousine. The visuals, already blown up across the media, are being used by Moscow to claim that Western quarantine has failed.
There was nothing about the actual results. There is no agreement on a ceasefire. The next meeting is not scheduled. There is no roadmap. More promises from Trump, who once said he would end the war “in 24 hours,” acknowledges the task more difficult than he thought. “If this goes well, the three-way summit will be more important than it is today,” Trump said Thursday that he has already downplayed Alaska talks before they happen.
Zelenskiy has not yet claimed to be a sailor of the territory. He also wants the security guarantees we support. Neither was publicly discussed. Trump has pledged to call Zelensky and NATO leaders to update them after the summit. But again, what should I say? Nothing was achieved.
Trump envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg previously said the casualties on both sides were around 1.2 million. Still, the summit ended with only cameras and carefully described lines.
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