US President Donald Trump called his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “extremely productive” but indicated that a deal to end the war had still not been finalised, adding that he would speak to NATO allies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Mr Trump said on Friday night in Anchorage, Alaska as he stood alongside Mr Putin for a joint event that followed the longest ever face-to-face meeting between the two leaders.
“We had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them. I would say a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there but we’ve made some headway,” Mr Trump added.
The press event, with the US president standing side-by-side with a leader who has been an international pariah since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, capped a stunning day. While Mr Trump had downplayed expectations for the summit in its run-up, even insisting aboard Air Force One en route to the meeting that he would “walk away” if the talks did not go well, he spoke with Mr Putin for more than 2½ hours — a session longer than their 2018 summit discussions in Helsinki.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump before their summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Photograph: Sergey Bobylev/POOL/AFP via Getty Images 
US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin stand on a platform announcing their summit in Alaska at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images 
Presidents Trump and Putin walk down from the ‘Alaska 2025’ platform towards their waiting car ahead of talks focused on peace in Ukraine. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Mr Putin cast the conversations as useful and said they were held “in a constructive atmosphere”. He suggested that Ukraine was only one of multiple issues they had discussed, pointing to the potential for increased trade and business cooperation as well as cooperation in the Arctic and in space exploration.
He said it was important for countries to “turn the page”. He also closed by indicating in English that the next conversation with Mr Trump should take place in Moscow, a suggestion that Trump didn’t reject.
Friday’s summit opened with a highly-choreographed spectacle that saw the US president greet Mr Putin on American soil, the Russian leader’s first visit to the US in nearly a decade. The two met on the tarmac, with Mr Trump clapping as Mr Putin approached and welcoming him with a warm handshake and a pat on the arm.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during a US-Russia summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images 
US president Donald Trump extends his hand to greet Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
The friendly, tactile body language offered a stark contrast to Mr Trump’s shakedown of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in the Oval Office in February.
Ukrainians watching from afar immediately noticed that the US had literally rolled out a red carpet for the Russian president, who is an indicted war criminal charged with kidnapping Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied regions of their country.
Mustafa Nayyem, a Ukrainian journalist-turned-politician, posted an image of US soldiers kneeling to secure the red carpet laid at the foot of Putin’s plane before the Russian president emerged with the caption: “Make Kneeling Great Again”.
Protesters hold up Ukrainian flags outside Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson during a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. Photograph: Bastien Inzaurralde/AFP via Getty Images 
Supporters of US president Donald Trump gather in Anchorage, Alaska, as he meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Ash Adams/The New York Times
The two presidents walked together towards a platform bearing a sign that read “Alaska 2025″ as B-2s and F-22s – military aircraft designed to oppose Russia during the cold war – flew over to mark the moment.
Trump and Putin stood looking towards the media but did not respond to shouted questions including: “President Putin, will you stop killing civilians?” The Russian president, who is wanted by the international criminal court, appeared to shrug.
Putin then joined Trump in the presidential limousine nicknamed “the Beast” – a rare privilege for allies and adversaries alike – and could be seen laughing with glee.
The men then sat together in a conference room with their respective delegations, seated to the side in front of a blue backdrop that had the words “Pursuing Peace” printed on it several times. Pursue it they might, but in Alaska they did not deliver it. – Bloomberg/Guardian
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