President Donald Trump failed to obtain an agreement from Vladimir Putin on Friday to end the Russian war in Ukraine, failing in his most important movement to stop the bloodshed, even after having deployed the red carpet for the man who started him.
“There is no agreement before there was an agreement,” said the American president, after Mr. Putin said that he had hammered an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the emerging progress”. Trump said he would call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders to inform them of talks.
Mr. Trump, who for years has paid Ukraine for Ukraine and expressed his admiration for Mr. Putin, was confidently committed to the war on his first day of return to the White House. Seven months later, after having reprimanded Mr. Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and stealing the flow of American military assistance in kyiv, Trump could not bring Putin to suspend the fighting, while his forces are making gains on the battlefield.
Trump had offered Putin a carrot and a stick, emitting threats to punish economic sanctions against Russia while extending a warm welcome at the Elmendorf-Richardson joint base in Anchorage, but he seemed to leave without any concrete result by ending the war in Ukraine, now in his fourth year.
Instead, he gave Mr. Putin for a long time on the international scene, after years of Western efforts to make him a pariah during the war and his repression against dissent, and warned Putin the threat of additional American sanctions.
In a sign that the conversations did not give Mr. Trump’s favorite result, the two leaders ended what was supposed to be a joint press conference without responding to journalists.
During a later interview with Fox News Channel before leaving Alaska, Trump described him as a “very warm meeting”, but refused to give details on what he and Putin discussed. He said: “It is not at all an agreement concluded.”
“Many points have been negotiated,” said Trump, but added, “as far as I am concerned, there is no agreement before there was an agreement. But we have made a lot of progress.”
Trump also insisted that the burden in the future could be in a way on Mr. Zelenskyy “to do so”, but said that there would also be an involvement of European nations.
The American president had wanted to show his skills in terms of agreement, while Mr. Putin wanted to negotiate an agreement that would cement the gains of Russia, would block kyiv’s attempt to join the NATO military alliance and finally bring Ukraine back to Moscow’s orbit.
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were accepted,” Trump said during their joint appearance. “And there is very little. Some are not so important. One is probably the most important, but we are very good at getting there.”
He continued: “We did not get there.”
Excluding discussions from Trump and Putin, Mr. Zelenskyy was left to publish a video address before the meeting during which he expressed his hope for a “strong position in the United States”
Putin thanks Trump for his `your friendly ” ‘
For Mr. Putin, the simple fact of being on American soil for the first time in more than a decade was validation after his ostracization after his invasion of Ukraine.
His meeting with Trump can block the economic sanctions that the American president had promised unless Moscow works hard to end the fighting. This can now simply lead to more meetings, giving its forces more time to progress on the battlefield.
Putin thanked Trump for the “friendly” tone for their conversation and said that Russia and the United States should “turn the page and return to cooperation.”
He congratulated Mr. Trump as someone who “has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve and sincerely cares about the prosperity of his country, and shows at the same time that Russia has its own national interests.”
“I expect today’s agreements to become a point of reference not only to solve the Ukrainian problem, but will also mark the start of the restoration of commercial pragmatic relations between Russia and the United States,” said Putin.
Although he does not reach any major breakthrough, Mr. Trump put an end to his remarks by thanking Mr. Putin and saying: “We will talk to you very soon and you will probably have very soon.”
When Mr. Putin smiled and offered, “next time in Moscow”, Trump said “it’s interesting” and said that he could make criticism, but “I could see him perhaps.”
Trump and Mr. Putin greeted themselves with a warm handshake, almost chatting as if they were old friends, and tightened their hands for an extended period on a red carpet deployed at the military base. While they were chatting, Poutine smiles and pointed out to the sky, where the B-2 and the F-22-military planes designed to oppose Russia during the Cold War-stole above. The two then shared the American presidential limousine known as “The Beast” for a short journey to their meeting site, Mr. Putin offering a large smile while the vehicle passed in front of the cameras.
It was the type of reception generally reserved for nearby United States allies and denied blood effusions and suffering in the war that Mr. Putin launched in Ukraine. Although it is not entirely surprising given their longtime friendly relationship, such external conviviality before the hours of closed meetings has probably raised the concerns of Mr. Zelenskyy and European leaders, who fear that Mr. Trump will mainly focus on the promotion of American interests and not pressing strong enough for Ukraine.
Not a tête-à-tête meeting
The white house’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a short time before Air Force, One addressed only the previously planned individual meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin would be a discussion of three against three, notably the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the special envoy Steve Witkoff. Mr. Putin was joined by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, and the foreign adviser Yuri Ushakov.
The change seemed to indicate that the White House adopted a more kept approach than at a 2018 meeting in Helsinki, where Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin met their interpreters in private and Mr. Trump then shocked the world by turning with the Russian leader on American intelligence officials on the question of whether Russia has mixed the 2016 campaign.
The exclusion of Mr. Zelenskyy was also a hard blow for the West policy of “nothing on Ukraine without Ukraine” and invites the possibility that Mr. Trump can accept an agreement that Ukraine does not want.
War is still raging
Russia and Ukraine remain distant in their peace requests. Mr. Putin has long resisted any temporary ceasefire, binding it to the cessation of Western weapons supplies and a freeze on the mobilization efforts of Ukraine, which are conditions rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies.
The meeting comes as the war caused heavy losses on both sides and has drained the resources. Ukraine has been maintained much longer than some first expected since the invasion of February 2022, but it rushed to hold the much larger army of Russia, struggling with bombing of its cities and fighting for each thumb on the front of more than 600 miles (1000 kilometers).
Alaska is separated from Russia to its point closest to only 3 miles (less than 5 kilometers) and the international date line.
The joint base Elmendorf-Richardson was crucial to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He continues to play a role today, because base planes still intercept Russian planes that regularly fly in American airspace.
This story was reported by the Associated Press. Will WEISSERT A reported Washington. The writers of the Associated Press Matthew Lee and Jonathan J. Cooper in Washington, Elise Morton in London and Vladimir Ischenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Publisher’s note: This story, originally published at 8:39 p.m. on August 15, was updated with the development of news.
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