Main Points About the Trump-Putin Summit: Progress Made, No Deal Reached

The first in more than four years in-person meeting between the presidents of the United States and Russia took place in Alaska on Friday, August 15. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held negotiations in a “three-on-three” format at the U.S. Air Force base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Both sides described the talks as constructive and productive, but at the same time, no deal was reached on ending the war in Ukraine. DW outlines the key moments of the two leaders’ meeting.

Trump’s plane landed in Anchorage at about 21:20 Moscow time, and closer to 22:00 Putin’s aircraft arrived. The heads of state met on the red carpet, after which they proceeded to Trump’s car and drove together to the venue where the event was to be held.

At around 22:40 Moscow time, the closed-door part of the negotiations in a “three-on-three” format began. On the Russian side, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov joined the president, while on the American side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff took part—Witkoff had previously traveled to Moscow several times on behalf of the administration for talks with the Kremlin.

The negotiations lasted almost three hours, after which Putin and Trump came out to hold a joint press conference. The Russian president spoke first with an eight-minute speech. He described the U.S. as a “close neighbor,” but at the same time noted that in recent years relations between the two countries had “slid to their lowest point since the Cold War.” In this regard, Putin continued, his meeting with Trump was “truly overdue.”

The Russian president also stated that the war in Ukraine was “one of the central issues” of the talks. He agreed with Trump’s position on the need for security guarantees for the country, but at the same time repeated his words that “the events in Ukraine are linked to fundamental threats” to Russia’s national security and that in order to resolve the conflict, “all root causes of the crisis must be eliminated.”

Trump’s speech lasted less than four minutes. He immediately said that the delegations “were not able to reach full understanding” and that “unfortunately, there is no deal yet.” At the same time, the U.S. president said that “substantial progress” had been achieved at the meeting, and the chances of reaching a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine are “very good.” Trump then promised to call Zelensky and NATO partners to share details of the negotiations. At the end, he expressed hope to see Putin again soon. The Russian president suggested holding the next meeting in Moscow, to which Trump replied: “Quite possible.”

Almost immediately after the press conference, the leaders of the two countries left Alaska, although a working lunch with expanded delegations had originally been planned. These were supposed to include Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, as well as U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

In a half-hour interview with Fox News, the U.S. president rated the day of negotiations “10 out of 10.” According to him, after the joint press conference, he had a “very sincere” private conversation with the Kremlin leader. Trump added that achieving a deal to end the war now depends on Volodymyr Zelensky. He advised the Ukrainian president to make a deal with Putin. As for new sanctions against Russia, Trump promised not to consider them for the next 2–3 weeks.