The closely watched summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ended without a breakthrough on Ukraine, though Trump described the talks as “productive.” Putin, meanwhile, suggested holding another meeting in Moscow.
The White House had sought to temper expectations ahead of the meeting in Alaska — once Russian territory — with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt characterizing it as “a listening exercise for the president” rather than a decisive negotiation.
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said afterward.
Ukraine was absent from the talks, fueling concerns that any potential arrangement might compromise its sovereignty. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a post on X before the summit, stressed: “Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to bring the war to an end, and we count on a strong position from America … A meeting of leaders is needed – at the very least, Ukraine, America, and the Russian side.”
The summit marked Putin’s first visit to the U.S. in nearly a decade. He described the encounter as taking place during a “hard time” for relations, which he said had sunk to their lowest point since the Cold War.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on,” Trump said at a joint press conference. “A couple of big ones we haven’t quite got there yet, but we’ve made some headway.” The leaders did not take questions from reporters.
Putin called the discussions a “starting point,” both for conflict resolution with Kyiv and for improving ties with Washington. Trump praised Putin’s remarks as “profound” and said he would consult NATO and Zelenskyy on the outcomes.
“Many points were agreed to. Just a very few are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” Trump added, without providing details.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, numerous rounds of negotiations have failed to end the war. In a Fox News interview after the summit, Trump urged Zelenskyy to cut a deal. “Gotta make a deal. Yeah. Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not. They’re great soldiers,” he said.
Russian state media hailed the summit as a diplomatic win for Moscow, while the mood in Ukraine was subdued amid fears that a Trump-brokered deal could mean territorial concessions.
