US President Donald Trump emerged from a high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Monday with warm praise for the Russian leader but few concrete details, saying the two had “very productive” talks while stressing “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
“I believe we had a very productive meeting,” Trump said, adding, “There were many, many points that we agreed on … There’s no deal until there’s a deal. I will call up NATO … I’ll of course call up President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting … We really made some great progress.” As reporters shouted questions, Trump walked off the stage without answering.
Trump wants ‘fast peace deal over ceasefire’
Tells Zelensky & NATO leaders in ‘not easy call’ pic.twitter.com/zlfpB70okI
— RT (@RT_com) August 16, 2025
In a follow-up interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Trump advised Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to “make a deal” to end the war. He also repeated a claim previously fact-checked and debunked by The Guardian that the United States has provided $350 billion in defense aid to Ukraine while Europe contributed only $100 billion.
Speaking to Hannity, Trump said, “Wars are very bad, I seem to have an ability to end them,” and embraced suggestions that he has helped tamp down several “dormant” global conflicts. Neither he nor Hannity referenced Trump’s repeated campaign pledge to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours if re-elected.
At the brief Anchorage remarks, Putin invited Trump to continue talks in Moscow. “Again, Mr. President, I’d like to thank you very much, and we’ll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon,” Trump replied. “Thank you very much, Vladimir.” “Next time in Moscow,” Putin said with a chuckle; Trump responded, “Oh, that’s an interesting one … I could see it possibly happening.”
While in Alaska, Putin made symbolic stops, including laying flowers at the Fort Richardson Memorial Cemetery at the graves of Soviet pilots and sailors who died in World War II, and meeting Archbishop Alexei of the Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of Alaska — moves Russia’s Foreign Ministry framed as underlining historic ties to the region.
The Kyiv Independent issued a scathing editorial after the meeting, arguing Trump left “empty-handed” while Putin “emerged triumphant.” The outlet contrasted Putin’s warm reception with what it called the “public shaming” of Zelensky in Washington six months earlier, calling both episodes “disgraceful.” The editorial warned that Trump “fails to grasp that Putin isn’t transactional about Ukraine, he is messianic. He wants Ukraine for Russia, period. For Putin and his inner circle, Ukraine’s independence is an accident, and they are correcting it.”
Source: Agencies (edited and translated by Al-Manar English Website)
