Trump and Putin Call Alaska Talks ‘Productive’ Despite No Ukraine Breakthrough
A highly anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no agreement to resolve or pause the war in Ukraine, although both leaders described the talks as productive before heading home.
During a brief appearance before the media following Friday’s nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska, the two leaders said they had made progress on unspecified issues. But they offered no details and took no questions.
“We’ve made some headway,” Trump said, standing in front of a backdrop that read, “Pursuing Peace.”
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he added.
Following the summit, Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he would hold off on imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil after making progress with Putin. He did not mention India, another major buyer of Russian crude, which has been slapped with a total 50% tariff on U.S. imports that includes a 25% penalty for the imports from Russia.
In the Fox News interview, Trump also suggested a meeting would now be set up between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which he might also attend. He gave no further details on who was organizing the meeting or when it might be.
Moreover, Trump signalled that he discussed potential land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine with Putin, telling Hannity: “I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on.”
“I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” he said, adding: “Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.”
When asked by Hannity what he would advise Zelenskiy, Trump said, “Gotta make a deal.”
On the other hand, Putin made no mention of meeting Zelenskiy when speaking to reporters earlier. He said he expected Ukraine and its European allies to accept the results of the U.S.-Russia negotiation constructively and not try to “disrupt the emerging progress.”
He also repeated Moscow’s long-held position that the “root causes” of the conflict must be eliminated to reach a long-term peace.
“I expect that today’s agreements will become a reference point not only for solving the Ukrainian problem, but will also mark the beginning of the restoration of businesslike, pragmatic relations between Russia and the U.S.,” Putin added.
Despite not reaching any breakthrough, Trump ended his remarks by thanking Putin and saying, “we’ll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon.”
When Putin smiled and offered, “next time in Moscow,” Trump said “that’s an interesting one” and said he might face criticism but “I could see it possibly happening.”
