Putin, Trump sit down to discuss fate of Ukraine as summit gets under way
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met face-to-face in Alaska on Friday in a high-stakes summit that could determine whether a ceasefire can be reached in the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.
Ahead of the talks, Trump greeted the Russian leader on a red carpet on the tarmac at a US Air Force base. The two shook hands warmly and touched each other on the arm before riding in Trump's limo to the summit site nearby.
There, the two presidents sat with their respective delegations in their first meeting since 2019. A blue backdrop behind them had the words "Pursuing Peace" printed on it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was not invited to the talks, and his European allies fear Trump might sell out Ukraine by essentially freezing the conflict with Russia and recognizing - if only informally - Russian control over one-fifth of Ukraine.
Earlier, Trump sought to assuage such concerns as he boarded Air Force One, saying he would let Ukraine decide on any possible territorial swaps. "I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine, I'm here to get them at a table," he said.
Asked what would make the meeting a success, he told reporters: "I want to see a ceasefire rapidly ... I'm not going to be happy if it's not today ... I want the killing to stop."
Trump spoke with Putin in a meeting that also included U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
At a subsequent larger, bilateral meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chief of staff Susie Wiles will also join Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war that Putin started will bring peace to the region as well as bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
For Putin, the summit is already a big win that he can portray as evidence that years of Western attempts to isolate Russia have unraveled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy.
Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court, accused of the war crime of deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia denies allegations of war crimes and the Kremlin has dismissed the ICC warrant as null and void. Russia and the United States are not members of the court.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on its smaller neighbor in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
A conservative estimate of dead and injured in the war in Ukraine - from both sides combined - totals 1.2 million people, Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said in May.
Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, conceded on Thursday it had proven a tougher task than he had expected. He said if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be more important than his encounter with Putin.
Zelenskiy said Friday's summit should open the way for a "just peace" and three-way talks that included him, but added that Russia was continuing to wage war. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another.
"It's time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States.
'Smart guy'
Trump said before the summit that there is mutual respect between him and Putin.
"He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time, but so have I ... We get along," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring businesspeople to Alaska.
"But they're not doing business until we get the war settled," he said, repeating a threat of "economically severe" consequences for Russia if the summit goes badly.
The United States has had internal discussions on using Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker vessels to support the development of gas and LNG projects in Alaska as one of the possible deals to aim for, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs Moscow could be ready to strike a compromise on Ukraine, given that Putin understood Russia's economic vulnerability and costs of continuing the war.
Reuters has previously reported that Putin might be willing to freeze the conflict along the front lines, provided there was a legally binding pledge not to enlarge NATO eastwards and to lift some Western sanctions. NATO has said Ukraine's future is in the alliance.
Russia, whose war economy is showing strain, is vulnerable to further US sanctions - and Trump has threatened tariffs on buyers of Russian crude, primarily China and India.
"For Putin, economic problems are secondary to goals, but he understands our vulnerability and costs," the Russian source said.
Putin this week held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control accord to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire in February. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
11 hours ago
- GMA Network
Trump tells Zelenskyy that Putin wants more of Ukraine, urges Kyiv make a deal
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, US, August 15, 2025. Trump says he and Putin did not reach an agreement to resolve Moscow's war in Ukraine but characterized the meeting as 'very productive.' REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/KYIV - US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not", after a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land. After the two leaders met in Alaska on Friday, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Putin had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of Moscow's main targets, a source familiar with the matter said. Zelenskyy rejected the demand, the source said. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014. Trump also said he agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies had demanded. That was a change from his position before the summit, when he said he would not be happy unless a ceasefire was agreed on. "It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump posted on Truth Social. Zelenskyy said Russia's unwillingness to pause the fighting would complicate efforts to forge a lasting peace. "Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war," he said on X. Nevertheless, Zelenskyy said he would meet Trump in Washington on Monday. That will evoke memories of a meeting in the White House Oval Office in February, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave Zelenskyy a brutal public dressing-down. Trump said a three-way meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy could follow. Kyiv's European allies welcomed Trump's efforts but vowed to back Ukraine and tighten sanctions on Russia. European leaders might join Monday's White House meeting as well, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been gradually advancing for months. The war — the deadliest in Europe for 80 years — has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts. Russia likely to welcome Trump's comments Trump's various comments on the three-hour meeting with Putin mostly aligned with the public positions of Moscow, which says a full settlement will be complex because positions are "diametrically opposed". Putin signaled no movement in Russia's long-held demands, which also include a veto on Kyiv's desired membership in the NATO alliance. He made no mention in public of meeting Zelenskyy. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said a three-way summit had not been discussed. In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Trump signaled that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had "largely agreed". "I think we're pretty close to a deal," he said, adding: "Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they'll say 'no'." Asked what he would advise Zelenskyy to do, Trump said: "Gotta make a deal." "Look, Russia is a very big power, and they're not," he added. Need for security guarantees for Ukraine Zelenskyy has consistently said he cannot concede territory without changes to Ukraine's constitution, and Kyiv sees Donetsk's "fortress cities" such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk as a bulwark against further Russian advances. Zelenskyy has also insisted on security guarantees to deter Russia from invading again. He said he and Trump had discussed "positive signals" on the US taking part, and that Ukraine needed a lasting peace, not "just another pause" between Russian invasions. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed what he described as Trump's openness to providing security guarantees to Ukraine under a peace deal. He said security guarantees were "essential to any just and lasting peace." Putin, who has opposed involving foreign ground forces, said he agreed with Trump that Ukraine's security must be "ensured". For Putin, just sitting down with Trump represented a victory. He had been ostracized by Western leaders since the start of the war, and just a week earlier had faced a threat of new sanctions from Trump. '1-0 for Putin' Trump spoke to European leaders after returning to Washington. Several stressed the need to keep pressure on Russia. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said an end to the war was closer than ever, thanks to Trump, but said he would impose more sanctions on Russia if the war continues. European leaders said in a statement that Ukraine must have "ironclad" security guarantees and no limits should be placed on its armed forces or right to seek NATO membership, as Russia has sought. Some European commentators were scathing about the summit. "Putin got his red carpet treatment with Trump, while Trump got nothing," Wolfgang Ischinger, former German ambassador to Washington, posted on X. Both Russia and Ukraine carried out overnight air attacks, a daily occurrence, while fighting raged on the front. Trump told Fox he would postpone imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, but he might have to "think about it" in two or three weeks. He ended his remarks after the summit by telling Putin: "We'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon." "Next time in Moscow," a smiling Putin responded in English. —Reuters
GMA Network
18 hours ago
- GMA Network
Trump drops Ukraine ceasefire demand after Putin summit
US President Donald Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin, to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, in Anchorage, Alaska, US, August 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON, United States - Donald Trump on Saturday dropped his push for a ceasefire in Ukraine in favor of pursuing a full peace accord – a major shift announced hours after his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin yielded no clear breakthrough. Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump and European leaders including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will now hold talks with the US president in Washington on Monday. The shift away from an urgent ceasefire would seem to favor Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal -- a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticized as a way to buy time and press home Russia's battlefield advances. "It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform after the Alaska talks. Before the summit, Trump had warned of "severe consequences" if Moscow did not accept a ceasefire. In a call with European leaders on his flight back to Washington, Trump said the US was prepared to provide security guarantees for Ukraine -- an assurance German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed as "significant progress." But there was a scathing assessment of the summit outcome from the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accused Putin of seeking to "drag out negotiations" with no commitment to end the bloodshed. "The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon," Kallas said. The New York Times, citing two European officials briefed on Trump's call with European leaders, said the president had expressed support for Putin's proposal for Ukraine to cede territory it controls to Russia in exchange for an eventual ceasefire. Zelenskyy back in White House The main diplomatic focus now switches to Zelenskyy's talks with Trump in Washington on Monday. An EU source told AFP that a number of European leaders had also been invited to attend. The Ukrainian president's last visit to the White House in February ended in an extraordinary shouting match, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berating Zelenskyy for not showing enough gratitude for US help against the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy said Saturday after a "substantive" conversation with Trump about the Alaska summit that he looked forward to his Washington visit and discussing "all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war." In an interview with Fox News after his sit-down with Putin, Trump had suggested that the onus was now on Zelenskyy to secure a peace deal as they work towards an eventual trilateral summit with Putin. "It's really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done," Trump said. "And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it's up to President Zelenskyy." European pressure The leaders of France, Britain and Germany are due to host a video call Sunday for their so-called "coalition of the willing" to discuss the way forward. In an earlier statement, they welcomed the plan for a Trump-Putin-Zelenskyy summit, but added that they would maintain pressure on Russia in the absence of a ceasefire. "We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia's war economy until there is a just and lasting peace," the statement said. Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine raged on, with Kyiv announcing Saturday that Russia had launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile during the night. Back in Moscow, Putin said his summit talks with Trump had been "timely" and "very useful." "The conversation was very frank, substantive, and, in my opinion, brings us closer to the necessary decisions," he said. In his post-summit statement in Alaska, Putin had warned Ukraine and European countries not to engage in any "behind-the-scenes intrigues" that could disrupt what he called "this emerging progress." — Agence France-Presse
GMA Network
a day ago
- GMA Network
Comelec seeks 'overhaul' of Omnibus Election Code
Filipinos vote during the midterm elections, at a polling station in Taguig City, May 12, 2025. REUTERS/ Lisa Marie David The Commission on Elections on Saturday proposed an ''overhaul'' of the 40-year-old Omnibus Election Code. 'Ang ating Omnibus Election Code ay 1985 pa. Wala pa itong pagbabago. Mahirap magpatupad ng batas ngayong moderno na tayo. Marami nang nangyari, madami nang pagbabago pero mga lumang batas pa rin ang ating ipinatutupad,' Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said in an interview with Super Radyo dzBB. (Our Omnibus Election Code was passed in 1985. It has not changed yet. It's hard to implement laws now that we are in modern times. A lot has happened, a lot of changes have occurred but we are still enforcing old laws.) 'Dapat hindi amendment, dapat tawagin nating revision. Kinakailangang overhaul talaga. Magmula sa registration, filing ng candidacy, mga disqualification, at cancellation ng candidacy,' he added. (We should call them revisions instead of amendments. We really need an overhaul, starting from registration, filing of candidacies, disqualifications, and cancellation of candidacy.) In 2023, the Comelec finished the 964-page proposed amendments to the OEC or Batas Pambansa Blg. 881. Among the changes proposed by the Comelec are criminalizing nuisance candidacies, restricting candidate substitution to cases of death and disqualification, prohibiting premature campaigning once the certificate of candidacy (COC) has been filed, and updating campaign spending limits. It also proposed to amend the rules on party-list groups, restrict the number of seats that can be held, support underrepresented groups, and impose restrictions on campaign contributions. Garcia also took note of initiatives to ban political dynasties. 'Maaaring ito na ang tamang panahon na magkaroon ng tunay na batas upang maipatupad ang anti-political dynasty provision ng ating Saligang Batas,' he said. (This may be the right time to have a law to implement the anti-political dynasty provision of our Constitution.) The Comelec also sought authority to expand the COC filing requirements. 'Sana bigyan kami ng kapangyarihan na mag-require na dagdag na dokumento sa mga nagpa-file ng kandidatura, halimbawa, birth certificate,' Garcia said. (I hope we are given the power to require additional documents from those filing candidacies, for example, a birth certificate) Senator Imee Marcos recently filed Senate Bill 425 seeking to revise and recodify all election statutes, saying certain provisions of the OEC are "outrightly ill-suited for modern times." —Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News
