‘No deal until there is a deal’: What transpired at high-stakes Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held crucial talks in Alaska on Friday on ending the Ukraine war, which has raged for more than three years, but the meeting failed to reach an agreement on a ceasefire.

 

Addressing the media after the meeting, Trump said they couldn’t reach a deal on Ukraine, although Putin stated that they had reached an understanding on continuing the dialogue. 

 

In a departure from tradition, Putin spoke first at the press briefing. Usually, when a US president hosts a foreign counterpart, the joint news conference begins with the remarks from the American leader.

 

The Russian President said the primary cause of the war must be eliminated to end the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. He also warned Ukraine and European leaders against interfering with the “emerging progress”.

 

“As you well know and understand, one of the central issues has become the situation around Ukraine. We see the desire of the U.S. administration and President Trump personally to facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, his desire to delve into the essence and understand its origins,” Putin said.

 

He reiterated Russia’s stand that the events in Ukraine were associated with fundamental threats to our national security.

 

“All of Russia's legitimate concerns must be taken into account, and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored,” he said.

 

Putin said the dialogue with Trump was held in “a respectful, constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere”.

 

Trump, on his part, claimed that the two leaders made “some headway” in the bilateral meeting. “We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” he said.

 

But he was quick to add: “There is no deal until there is a deal”.

 

The high-stakes meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage lasted more than three hours, CNN reported. Putin was accompanied by Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, while on the US side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff were present.

 

Earlier, the two leaders greeted each other on the red carpet after deplaning their respective aircraft, shook hands, posed for photos, and departed together in Trump’s presidential limousine to the venue.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not been invited to the meeting, though Kyiv and other European allies have been insisting that any peace deal must be reached with the involvement of Ukraine.

 

Trump had earlier said he would call Zelenskyy and other NATO leaders after the summit to brief them on the results. He had also hinted at a trilateral meeting involving both Putin and Zelenskyy if the Alaska dialogue went smoothly.

 

Ukraine has demanded an immediate ceasefire, saying only such a move from Russia can provide the basis for meaningful peace talks. It’s not immediately clear whether Trump pushed for a ceasefire at Friday’s Alaska talks.

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