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.
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