Source: Reuters

A highly anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Moscow’s war in Ukraine, though both leaders described the talks as productive.

During a brief appearance before the media following the nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska, the two leaders said they had made progress on unspecified issues. But they offered no details and took no questions, with the normally loquacious Trump ignoring shouted questions from reporters.

“We’ve made some headway,” Trump said, standing in front of a backdrop that read, “Pursuing Peace.”

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he added.

The talks did not initially appear to have produced meaningful steps toward a ceasefire in the deadliest conflict in Europe in 80 years, a goal Trump had set ahead of the summit.

But simply sitting down face-to-face with the U.S. president represented a victory for Putin, who had been ostracized by Western leaders since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Following the summit, Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he would hold off on imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil after making progress with Putin. He has targeted India, another major buyer of Russian crude, with an additional 25% tariff on U.S. imports.

“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump said of Chinese tariffs. “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”

Trump has also threatened sanctions on Moscow but has thus far not followed through, even after Putin ignored a Trump-imposed ceasefire deadline earlier this month.

In the Fox News interview, Trump also suggested a meeting would now be set up between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which he might also attend. He gave no further details on who was organizing the meeting or when it might be.

Putin made no mention of meeting Zelenskiy when speaking to reporters earlier. He said he expected Ukraine and its European allies to accept the results of the U.S.-Russia negotiation constructively and not try to “disrupt the emerging progress.”

Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. Trump said he would call Zelenskiy and NATO leaders to update them on the Alaska talks.

As the two leaders were talking, the war raged on, with most eastern Ukrainian regions under air raid alerts. Governors of Russia’s Rostov and Bryansk regions reported that some of their territories were under Ukrainian drone attacks.

Ukraine’s opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said on the Telegram messaging app, “It seems Putin has bought himself more time. No ceasefire or de-escalation has been agreed upon.”

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