JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump failed to secure an agreement from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to end the war in Ukraine, falling short in his most ambitious attempt yet to halt the conflict despite rolling out the red carpet for the Kremlin leader.
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump told reporters, after Putin suggested they had reached an “understanding” on Ukraine while cautioning Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress.” Trump added that he would brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies on the talks.
Trump, who has long expressed admiration for Putin and questioned America’s role in supporting Ukraine, promised on his first day back in office that he would quickly end the war. But seven months later, after berating Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and slowing U.S. military aid, Trump could not persuade Putin to even pause the fighting as Russian forces continue to make battlefield gains.
At the Anchorage summit, Trump alternated between threats of new sanctions and overtures of friendship, but ultimately left without a breakthrough. Instead, Putin walked away with a symbolic victory: international recognition on U.S. soil, his first visit in over a decade after years of being shunned by the West.
The two leaders had planned a joint press conference but ended it abruptly without taking questions. Later, in an interview with Fox News, Trump suggested that Zelenskyy now bore responsibility for pushing forward negotiations, while hinting European nations would need to “step up.” Zelenskyy, however, had been excluded entirely from Trump and Putin’s closed-door discussions.
Trump had hoped to showcase his famed deal-making skills, while Putin aimed to lock in Russia’s battlefield gains, halt Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, and draw Kyiv back under Moscow’s orbit.
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump said while standing beside Putin. “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.”
Then came the reality check: “We didn’t get there.”
For Putin, the mere optics of the meeting delivered validation — proof that Russia could still command a seat at the global table despite its ongoing war.
