US president Donald Trump has failed to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine from Russian president Vladimir Putin, and appeared to back down from a threat to impose new sanctions on Moscow after their summit in Alaska made no obvious progress towards ending the war.
The highly anticipated talks ended after about three hours, seemingly without an expected working lunch involving the wider US and Russian delegations and with only brief comments to the media, but both leaders tried to frame the summit as a success.
“We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to, and there are just a few that are left. Some are not that significant – one is probably the most significant – but we have a very good chance of getting there,” Mr Trump told the media.
“We didn’t get there but we have a very good chance of getting there,” he added, without offering any details on points of agreement and dispute. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
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The presidents warmly praised each other, and Mr Putin portrayed the summit as only a starting point for talks on Ukraine and on rebuilding Russia-US ties – pushing back on Mr Trump’s pre-summit depiction of the meeting as a potentially make-or-break moment in their relationship.
“I expect today’s agreements to serve not just as a basis for the resolution of the Ukrainian problem, but also as a starting point for restoring business-like, pragmatic relations between Russia and the United States,” Mr Putin said.
“Overall, we have established very good business-like and trusting contact with President Trump. And I have every reason to believe that by moving along this path, we can – the quicker the better – reach an end to the conflict in Ukraine.”
Mr Trump said he would call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders to brief them on the summit and – without indicating how it could be done – urged Kyiv to “make a deal” to end Russia’s 3½-year invasion.
“Now, it’s really up to President Zelenskiy to get it done, and I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it’s up to President Zelenskiy,” Mr Trump told Fox News before flying out of Anchorage.
“They’re going to set up a meeting now between President Zelenskiy and President Putin and myself, I guess. You know, I didn’t ask about it… but I want to make sure it gets done and we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.”
On his way to Alaska, Mr Trump had said he “won’t be happy” if the talks failed to deliver an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, and warned Russia that it would face “very severe” economic consequences if it resisted his efforts to end the war.
“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Mr Trump said after the summit, having last week postponed plans to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil – including China – after Mr Putin agreed to the meeting.
“I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now,” he told Fox News.
Mr Putin reiterated demands that any settlement in Ukraine must address Russia’s “legitimate demands” – which the Kremlin claims are permanent control of five Ukrainian regions now partly of fully occupied, and a ban on Ukraine ever joining Nato.
He also continued to portray Russia and the US as peacemakers, and Ukraine and Europe as potential obstacles to a deal: “We expect Kyiv and European capitals to see this constructively and to not throw a spanner in the works…to torpedo the nascent progress.”
