Trump, Putin say Alaska meeting 'constructive'
The path to Russia-Ukraine peace remains arduous, demanding concerted efforts by the international community, as the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday yielded no tangible results and failed to advance a ceasefire, experts said.
The two leaders emerged from over two-and-a-half hours of talks in Alaska on Friday afternoon, declaring that progress had been made but there was no deal for resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict. They did not answer questions from reporters at a joint news conference.
The two met in a three-on-three format with top advisers at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, in what both described as a "constructive" and "businesslike" encounter.
It was the first meeting between the United States and Russian heads of state since the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted in February 2022.
Calling it "a tragedy for us and a terrible wound", Putin said his "country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it". But he stressed the need to address "all legitimate constraints of Russia" while ensuring Ukraine's security.
The Russian president warned against "backroom dealings" or provocations that could "torpedo the nascent progress", and said that Moscow expected "that Kyiv and the European capitals will perceive all this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles".
Trump called the meeting "very productive", saying that "many, many points" were agreed upon but "a couple of big ones" remained unresolved.
On Saturday, Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire in Ukraine in favor of pursuing a full peace accord.
He spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders by phone on his flight back to Washington, saying afterward that "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war".
Zelensky was scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday afternoon. Joining him during the trip to Washington, DC, will be European leaders including from Germany, France and Britain, the president of the European Commission and the NATO secretary-general. In a joint statement on Saturday, European leaders stressed that Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be fully respected.
Experts said that the just-concluded summit was more symbolic than substantive, but that it signaled a willingness to keep channels of dialogue open, even as the core disputes between Russia, Ukraine and the West remained unresolved.
Liu Le, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' National Institute of International Strategy, said that given the current strains between Russia and the West, particularly the US, Ukraine and the European Union, it was hardly surprising that the summit produced no tangible results.
He pointed out that since the 2014 Crimea crisis, Russia's relations with the US and other Western countries have remained tense. The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022 has driven mutual trust to an all-time low, which had left little expectation that the summit would deliver significant breakthroughs.
Moreover, while Trump has cultivated a relatively cordial personal rapport with Putin, deep-seated hostility toward Russia persists within the US. As a result, a single summit is unlikely to be enough to rebuild trust between the two sides, Liu added.
Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Institute for China-American Studies in Washington, DC, said that what transpired in Alaska was news statements rather than a news conference. "Obviously, a lot was left unsaid at the press meet, including on a near-term ceasefire in Ukraine," he said.
Liu said that while the summit offered some positive signals for conflict resolution, it remains crucial for all parties to demonstrate genuine commitment to addressing the underlying issues, "paving the way for lasting stability".
