Trump-Putin summit falls short on securing Ukraine deal

Despite high expectations, talks between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, ended without an agreement on Ukraine, dampening hopes for a breakthrough in the protracted war.

Both leaders met on Friday in Alaska—their first face-to-face meeting since July 2018 in Helsinki.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump promised “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin did not agree to end the war in Ukraine.

But just as the presidents were greeting each other on the tarmac, alerts went out in Ukraine about incoming Russian drones and aircraft.

After the summit, Trump’s tone softened.

In a press conference alongside Putin after the three-hour meeting, Trump said they had made progress on unspecified issues, but offered no details.

“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump said.

“There are just a very 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. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

“So there is no deal until there is a deal,” Trump added, saying that he will now call up NATO as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others to brief them on the meeting.

On his part, Putin said his meeting with Trump was “long overdue”.

He expressed hope that the agreement that “we’ve reached together will help us bring close that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine”.

“We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive that constructively and that they won’t throw a wrench in the works,” he added.

“They will not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress.”

In a separate interview, Trump hinted at a forthcoming trilateral meeting between, Putin, Zelensky, and himself — a goal he enthused before the summit.

Zelenksy on Saturday said Trump briefed him about the meeting with Putin and expressed readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace.

The Ukrainian leader said he would meet with Trump on Monday in Washington.