AP NEWS
JOINT BASE Even after giving the man who launched the war the red carpet, President Donald Trump failed to obtain an agreement from Vladimir Putin on Friday to end Russia's war in Ukraine, failing in his most important move to date to stop the carnage.
After Putin said they had reached a "understanding" on Ukraine and cautioned Europe not to "torpedo the nascent progress," the U.S. president declared, "There's no deal until there's a deal." Trump promised to call European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to update them on the negotiations.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump, who for years has objected to U.S. assistance for Ukraine and has praised Putin, boldly promised to stop the war. Trump was unable to persuade Putin to even halt the war as his forces advanced on the battlefield seven months after scolding Zelenskyy in the White House and blocking the transfer of some U.S. military aid to Kyiv.
The U.S. president had given Putin a warm welcome at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and threatened to impose harsh economic sanctions on Russia, but he seemed to leave without making any real headway in putting an end to the conflict in Ukraine, which is currently in its fourth year.
Instead, Obama avoided the prospect of further U.S. sanctions and gave Putin the international legitimacy he had long craved, following years of Western attempts to demonize him over the conflict and his suppression of opposition.
The two leaders abruptly ended what was intended to be a joint press conference without answering any questions from reporters, indicating that the discussions did not produce the outcome Trump had hoped for.
In a follow-up interview with Fox News Channel before he departs from Alaska, Trump stated that Zelenskyy may have some responsibility going forward "to get it done," but that European countries will also play a role. Zelenskyy's exclusion from Trump and Putin's meeting made that noteworthy.
While Putin sought to negotiate an agreement that would solidify Russia's gains, thwart Kyiv's attempt to join the NATO military alliance, and ultimately reintegrate Ukraine into Moscow's circle, the U.S. president had hoped to demonstrate his ability to make deals.
Trump stood behind Putin and remarked, "We had a very productive meeting, and many points were agreed to." Additionally, just a small number remain. Not all of them are very important. Although one is arguably the most important, we have a decent probability of succeeding.
"We didn't get there," he added.
Trump "demonstrates understanding" that Russia has its own interests, according to Putin.
After being shunned after he invaded Ukraine, Putin saw his first visit to the United States in over ten years as a sign of approval.
If Moscow doesn't do more to end the conflict, his meeting with Trump would delay the economic sanctions the U.S. president had vowed. Additionally, it might well result in additional meetings, which would provide his troops more time to advance on the battlefield.
Russia and the US should "turn the page and go back to cooperation," according to Putin.
"Has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve and sincerely cares about the prosperity of his country, but at the same time shows understanding that Russia has its own national interests," he said of Trump.
Putin stated, "I anticipate that today's agreements will serve as a benchmark for resolving the Ukrainian issue as well as the start of the restoration of businesslike, pragmatic relations between Russia and the U.S."
Trump thanked Putin and said, "We'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon," even though he had failed to make any significant progress.
Trump remarked, "That's an interesting one," and acknowledged that he may receive criticism, but "I could see it possibly happening," in response to Putin's smile and offer of "next time in Moscow."
Trump boasted in the Fox News interview that Putin shared many of the American president's long-standing complaints, particularly those about the 2020 election. This implies that even though Trump went empty-handed, Putin, a former KGB officer, would have given him the idea that he had won a significant battle.
When Trump and Putin first arrived in Alaska, they shook hands, spoke like old friends, and held hands for a long time on the red carpet that was spread out at the military installation. During their conversation, Putin smiled and gestured toward the sky, where military planes called F-22s and B-2s, which were built to fight Russia in the Cold War, were flying overhead. Putin grinned broadly as they rolled by the cameras, and the two then rode together in the U.S. presidential limousine for a brief ride to their meeting location.
It was a reception that was usually only given to close allies of the United States, and it disregarded the agony and murder that had occurred in the war that Putin had instigated in Ukraine. Such outward warmth probably alarmed Zelenskyy and European leaders, who worry that Trump is solely focused on advancing U.S. interests and not pressing hard enough for Ukraine's, even though it is not wholly surprising given their longstanding cordial relationship.
No one-on-one encounter
Shortly before Air Force One landed, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Trump-Putin meeting, which had been scheduled to be a one-on-one encounter, would instead be a three-on-three meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, and Yuri Ushakov, the foreign affairs adviser, accompanied Putin.
In contrast to a 2018 meeting in Helsinki where Trump and Putin met privately with their interpreters and Trump shocked the world by supporting the Russian leader over U.S. intelligence officials on whether Russia meddled in the 2016 campaign, the change appeared to suggest that the White House was adopting a more circumspect stance.
Additionally, Zelenskyy's exclusion dealt a serious blow to the Western position of "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."
The war is still going on.
The demands for peace between Russia and Ukraine are still very different. Any interim ceasefire has long been opposed by Putin, who has associated it with a freeze on Ukraine's mobilization efforts and a halt in Western weaponry supplies—conditions that Kyiv and its Western allies reject.
The conference takes place while the battle has depleted resources and resulted in significant losses for both sides. Although Ukraine has resisted the invasion in February 2022 for a far longer period than some had anticipated, it is struggling to repel Russia's considerably larger army, battling for every inch on the more than 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) front line while dealing with bombardments of its cities.
The international date line and only 3 miles (less than 5 kilometers) separate Alaska from Russia at its closest point.
During the Cold War, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was essential to the fight against the Soviet Union. It still has an impact today, as the base's jets continue to intercept Russian planes that frequently enter American territory.
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