Trump Met Putin In Alaska And Said It Was "Extremely Productive" But They Didn’t Reach A Ceasefire Deal
The absence of Ukraine’s direct involvement raised concerns from Ukraine and European allies about any deal being negotiated without their input.
US president Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska but their meeting ended without agreeing to a ceasefire deal in Ukraine.
The meeting on Friday, Aug. 15, which was primarily to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and to reach a solution to end the war, marked Putin's first visit to a Western country since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The two leaders met without Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with Putin given a grand and symbolic welcome, including a red carpet lined with F-22 fighter jets, and even riding in Trump's armored limousine at one point.
However, minutes after landing in Alaska, one journalist shouted at Putin, "Will you stop killing civilians?" to which he didn’t answer.
The leaders gave brief statements after the meeting but did not take questions from the press.
Putin insisted that Russia’s demands over Ukrainian territory and status must be addressed first and Trump shifted focus from an immediate ceasefire to pursuing a broader peace agreement that would end the war.
He said that he and Putin agreed a peace agreement was preferable to a short-term ceasefire, which often fails to hold.
Putin said that the root causes of the conflict must be addressed and warned against sabotage of negotiations.
Discussions touched on possible security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future aggression, but Putin opposed foreign ground troops on Ukrainian soil.
The absence of Ukraine’s direct involvement raised concerns from Ukraine and European allies about any deal being negotiated without their input.
Trump said the meeting was "extremely productive" with "many points agreed upon" but no ceasefire or peace agreement was reached.
He then invited Putin to participate in a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy.
Trump later told Zelenskyy on Saturday, Aug. 16 that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war as "Russia is a very big power” and Ukraine isn’t, according to Reuters.
Zelenskyy said on X that "stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war," adding that he would meet Trump in Washington on Monday, Aug. 17 after their last meeting on February ended with a huge argument.
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