US President Donald Trump met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. According to US media reports, the outcome of the talks is expected to be another summit, which should also include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to Reuters, there were three people on each side, compared to the original agreement. The White House chief of staff welcomed Putin with a handshake at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Alaska. Trump wants to find a way to a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The talks lasted about two and a half hours, according to the AP, and about a quarter of an hour longer, according to the DPA. Putin's negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, told Russian state television afterward that they went"remarkably well."
Trump's goal at the meeting was to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine, which Russia invaded three and a half years ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not attend the meeting. However, Trump said in an interview with Fox News on a flight to Alaska that Putin and Zelensky would be at the next meeting.
Footage from before the meeting showed Trump and Putin sitting side by side, separated only by a small table, with translators at each side. Neither leader made any statements or answered questions from reporters.
The two politicians had previously met on the airfield of a military base. The White House chief of staff clapped several times as the Russian leader approached him, and then they shook hands. When a reporter asked Putin if he would stop killing civilians, the Kremlin chief merely smiled and pointed to his ear. The US and Russian leaders then got into the US president's black armored car, nicknamed The Beast, which took them to the first stage of the talks.
According to diplomat Michael Žantrovský, it is not at all usual that both statesmen got into the same car, which was also marked only with an American flag."Donald Trump probably used his weight as a host," the diplomat added.
Change in negotiations
Instead of the originally planned meeting between Putin and Trump alone, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff are to stand alongside the White House chief of staff at the meeting, Reuters reported.
Putin is to be accompanied by his adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the talks, Reuters wrote, citing the Russian Interfax agency."Yuri Ushakov is a practical creator of Russian foreign policy, he has many years of experience in diplomacy. Sergei Lavrov is more of a face of foreign policy," commented Karel Svoboda from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, commenting on the role of the announced participants in the Russian delegation.
Also present at the luncheon following the meeting will be US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Trump said this week that he would know within minutes whether Putin was really interested in a ceasefire."Maybe I'll walk away, say 'good luck' and that's it. Maybe I'll say we're not going to work it out," Trump said before the summit. The length of the meeting is therefore of obvious importance, CNN pointed out, which gave Trump plenty of time to assess Putin's intentions.
The Kremlin on Friday expressed expectations that the talks could last up to seven hours. The White House indicated that Trump's departure from Alaska was scheduled for about seven hours after the meeting began.
Negotiations without Ukraine
The AP described the absence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from the talks as a major blow to the “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” policy. Trump sought to allay those concerns as he boarded Air Force One. He said he would let Ukraine decide on any territorial swaps. “I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I’m here to bring them to the table,” he added.
When asked under what circumstances he would consider a meeting with Putin to be successful, Trump told reporters on the plane that he couldn't say."I don't know. Nothing has been decided. I want certain things... I want a ceasefire to be reached quickly... I won't be satisfied if it's not today," the US president said, adding that Europe and the Ukrainian president would also be involved in the process.
"Trump arrived in Alaska with the goal of getting a promise from Putin on Friday that he would stop the fighting in Ukraine," said ČT foreign correspondent Bohumil Vostal."At the same time, (Trump) said that Europe is not telling him what to do, and that his goal at this meeting is that the president of Ukraine can also participate in the next meeting," he added.
Zelensky did not receive an invitation to the Alaska meeting and ruled out the possibility of handing over any Ukrainian territory to Russia. “The time has come to end the war and Russia must take appropriate action. We are counting on America,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram social network. “There is a lot at stake,” he stressed.
On Friday, Trump called the Kremlin leader a “smart guy” and said that both sides respect each other. He welcomed Putin’s decision to travel to Alaska with business people, but said the United States would not sign any trade deals with Russia until the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was resolved. Trump repeated his threat to impose sanctions on Moscow if the talks failed.
The meeting is intended to be a step toward ending Russia's war against Ukraine, but Moscow and Kiev still have significantly different ideas about what they would consider an acceptable peace deal.
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