By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Saturday briefed the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky after his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, where both leaders called talks “productive” but admitted no breakthrough to end Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump hinted future meetings, as Putin spoke of an “understanding” and urged renewed US-Russia cooperation.
According to the White House, Trump held a “lengthy call” with Zelensky as he returned to the oval office from Alaska and later spoke with NATO leaders.
Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, but the talks yielded no results.
Both leaders described the discussions as “productive,” they admitted no breakthrough was achieved. After two and a half hours of talks, the leaders briefed the media, with President Trump remarking, “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump said.
He stated, “And there are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant.
He stressed that one is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” “We didn’t get there.”
Trump concluded his remarks by thanking Putin and said “we will speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon.”
Putin said he and Trump had reached an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress”.
He thanked Trump for the “friendly” tone of their conversation and said Russia and the United States should “turn the page and go back to cooperation”.
Putin praised Trump as someone who “has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve and sincerely cares about the prosperity of his country, and at the same time shows understanding that Russia has its own national interests.”
“I expect that today’s agreements will become a reference point not only for solving the Ukrainian problem, but will also mark the beginning of the restoration of businesslike, pragmatic relations between Russia and the US,” Putin said.
Putin smiled and offered to meet “next time in Moscow”, Trump said “that’s an interesting one” and said he might face criticism but “I could see it possibly happening”.
