United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up their much-anticipated meeting in Alaska on Friday, Aug. 15, with no deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The world leaders talked behind closed doors for three hours, negotiating how to end the conflict.
Trump and Putin addressed the media for just a few minutes and did not take any questions from reporters.
Putin spoke first, saying it was very good to see Trump and that he’s in good health. He said bilateral relations between the U.S. and Russia have fallen to the lowest point since the Cold War and that this meeting was long overdue.
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Putin claimed the two came to “agreements” to pave a path to peace in Ukraine. He said the two countries need to turn the page because there’s much the U.S. and Russia could do to help each other, whether it’s in trade, technology or space exploration.
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At least 1.5 million service members have been killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine began in 2022.
Putin said he warned former President Joe Biden of hostilities years ago before entering Ukraine. Here’s what Putin said, according to a White House interpreter:
“And I would like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities, and I said it quite directly back then that it’s a big mistake.”
Added Putin: “Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the president back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that would indeed be so, and I can confirm that.”
Putin also warned European countries not to interfere or undermine the progress that he and Trump were making on a deal.
Trump says key issues remain
Trump then spoke for a few minutes, calling the meeting “very productive” but also saying that the two leaders did not reach an agreement to end the war.
Trump said the two leaders agreed on many points, but others still need to be worked out with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump said he needs to make some very important phone calls to NATO and Zelenskyy.
“So just to put it very quickly, I’m going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened,” Trump told reporters. “But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. 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.”
No breakthrough in sight
Although the summit was highly anticipated, it failed to produce any meaningful progress toward ending, or even pausing, the ongoing conflict.
The two leaders agreed that they would be speaking again soon, and Putin said he’s hopeful the next meeting will take place in Moscow.
