US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday held a “very productive” and “mutually respectful” high-stakes summit in Alaska, as the two world leaders sought a way to bring the Ukraine conflict – one of the deadliest in Europe in 80 years – to a close.
President Trump made it clear that “there is no deal until there is a deal”, indicating the absence of any proper resolution during the meeting, while President Putin described the talks as “thorough and useful”. Mr Putin also said Russia was “sincerely interested in putting an end” to the conflict in Ukraine but flagged “legitimate concerns” to be taken into account.
The two leaders made the remarks during a joint press conference after three hours of talks on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a war that has killed thousands of people so far and on which Moscow has not yet relented, making rapid gains just before the summit. Both of them, however, did not take any questions from journalists.
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left,” Mr Trump told reporters, adding: “We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”