By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Friday for 3 hours to discuss ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Both leaders called the talks “productive,” no breakthrough was achieved. Trump said he would brief Zelensky and European leaders soon, while Putin spoke of an “understanding” and urged cooperation with the US, even inviting Trump to Moscow.
Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Alaska 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.”
He added that he planned to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders soon – to brief them on the discussions.
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump said.
Trump stated, “And 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.”
He continued, “We didn’t get there.”
Trump concluded his remarks by thanking Putin and saying, “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”.
He 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”.
