US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a high-stakes summit meeting in Alaska on Friday. But they came away with no deal on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. After the summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will visit Washington on Monday.
The face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin took place at a US military base. It was their first since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
The two leaders met with reporters after the talks.
Putin said Russia is sincerely interested in putting an end to the fighting in Ukraine, calling it a “tragedy” that is causing a “terrible wound.”
Trump called the meeting “extremely productive,” but said it fell short of an agreement.
Trump did not elaborate on any specifics that he and Putin had agreed to. The two leaders ended the news conference without taking questions from reporters.
After the summit, Trump told Fox News that he had discussed with Putin swapping land between Russia and Ukraine. He also said the US, Russia and Ukraine might soon set up a meeting, but that it would really be up to Zelenskyy to get a deal done.
People in Ukraine were unmoved by the meeting’s outcome.
A man said, “It’s no surprise that no progress was made.”
A woman said, “We are not disappointed because we were aware that President Trump is not on our side.”
Zelenskyy posted on social media that he will meet Trump in Washington on Monday. He wrote that he welcomes the trilateral meeting.
Trump said on social media that if everything works out, then a meeting will be scheduled with Putin.
However, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that the possibility of holding a trilateral meeting has not been discussed.
An expert in Russian foreign and security policies, Abiru Taisuke, who is a senior research fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, says the meeting on Friday proceeded at Putin’s pace and may not have made major concessions. He also says Zelenskyy has a very difficult role to play to win the support of the US and break the deadlock on a ceasefire with Russia.
