Trump, Putin Summit in Alaska Yields No Ukraine Ceasefire Deal

A high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ended without an agreement to halt or ease Moscow’s war in Ukraine, despite both leaders describing the Alaska talks as productive.

After nearly three hours of discussions, Trump said progress was made on “many points” but acknowledged no breakthrough. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he told reporters, declining to take questions.

Putin struck a similar note, saying he expected Ukraine and its European allies to “accept the results constructively,” but repeated Moscow’s long-held demand to address what it calls the “root causes” of the conflict — signaling no readiness for a ceasefire.

The meeting, the first between Putin and a US president since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, was closely watched in Kyiv and across Europe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited, has ruled out ceding territory and is pressing for US-backed security guarantees. “It seems Putin has bought himself more time. No ceasefire or de-escalation has been agreed upon,” said Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko.

The talks came as air raid alerts sounded across eastern Ukraine and Russian regions reported fresh drone strikes. Western officials voiced skepticism about Putin’s intentions. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said, “If Putin were serious about negotiating peace, he would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today.”

For Putin, the summit itself was already a diplomatic win, underscoring Moscow’s reemergence on the world stage despite Western attempts at isolation. Trump, who has previously claimed he could end the war “within 24 hours,” cast the meeting as a step toward a future truce that could cement his image as a peacemaker.

No follow-up meeting between Putin and Zelensky has yet been scheduled.