US President Donald Trump ended the summit in Alaska praising his relationship with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and calling Russia “a big power … No. 2 in the world,” albeit admitting they did not reach a deal on ending the war in Ukraine.
By Saturday morning Moscow time, Trump appeared to have abandoned the idea of a ceasefire as a step toward peace — something he and Ukraine had pushed for months – in favor of pursuing a full-fledged “Peace Agreement” to end the war, echoing a long-held Kremlin position, reports AP.
Putin’s visit to Alaska was his first to the United States in 10 years and his first to a Western country since invading Ukraine in 2022 and plunging US-Russia relations to the lowest point since the Cold War. Crippling sanctions followed, along with efforts to shun Russia on the global stage.
The International Criminal Court in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Putin on accusations of war crimes, casting a shadow on his foreign trips and contacts with other world leaders.
Trump, in contrast to other world leaders, warmly greeted Putin, even clapping for him, on a red carpet as US warplanes flew overhead as the world watched.
Russian officials and media revelled in the images of the pomp-filled reception Putin received in Alaska, which pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda described as signalling “utmost respect.” It called the meeting a “huge diplomatic victory” for Putin, whose forces will have time to make more territorial gains.
The reception contrasted starkly with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s March visit to the Oval Office, where Trump treated him like a “representative of a rogue state,” said Roderich Kiesewetter, a member of the German parliament.
In recent months, Trump has pressed for a ceasefire, something Ukraine and its allies supported and insisted was a prerequisite for any peace talks. The Kremlin has pushed back, however, arguing it is not interested in a temporary truce – only in a long-term peace agreement.
Moscow’s official demands for peace so far have remained nonstarter for Kyiv: It wants Ukraine to cede four regions that Russia only partially occupies, along with the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014. Ukraine also must renounce its bid to join NATO and shrink its military, the Kremlin says.
After Alaska, Trump appeared to echo the Kremlin’s position on a ceasefire, posting on social media that after he spoke to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
In a statement after the Trump call, the European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire.
The summit took place a week after a deadline Trump gave the Kremlin to stop the war or face additional sanctions on its exports of oil in the form of secondary tariffs on countries buying it.
In the days before Alaska, Trump also threatened unspecified “very severe consequences” if Putin does not agree to stop the war. But whether those consequences will materialize remains unclear.
In a statement after the summit, Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress.” But Trump said “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
In his Fox interview, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelenskyy “to get it done,” but said there would also be some involvement from European nations.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has said that Russia’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire is complicating efforts to end the war.
“We see that Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation,” the Ukrainian president said in a statement on X.
On Monday, Zelensky will travel to Washington DC, where US President Donald Trump has said he will urge the Ukrainian leader to agree to a peace deal.
Both raised the possibility of a trilateral summit with Putin, but Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said it was not discussed in Alaska. The Kremlin has long maintained that Putin would only meet Zelenskyy in the final stages of peace talks.
Far from the summit venue and its backdrop saying “Pursuing Peace,” Russia continued to bombard Ukraine and make incremental advances on the over 600-mile (1,000-kilometre) front.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had taken control of the village of Kolodyazi in the Donetsk region, along with Vorone in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine did not comment on the claims. Russian forces are closing in on the strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2022 but still only partially controls.