Trump and Putin meeting ends after more than two hours of talks in hopes of ending Ukraine war

Irish Independent

3 days ago

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Russian source says it looks as though terms will be agreed Zelensky, not invited, says Ukraine is 'counting on America' Trump says the killing must stop
Donald Trump said he wanted to see a ceasefire "today" as he headed to Alaska on Friday for a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin to help end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.
Donald Trump greets Vladimir Putin with a handshake on a red carpet as both disembark their presidential planes and their summit gets underway.
The leaders greeted each other on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where officials erected a special stage with a large 'Alaska 2025' sign flanked by parked fighter jets and red carpets.
Uniformed military members stood at attention nearby. B-2s and F-22s — military aircraft designed to oppose Russia during the Cold War — were flying over to mark the moment.
Mr Trump and Mr Putin have shared closely watched handshakes before, but their latest one will be as scrutinised as any, as will their body language or hints about how each is feeling.
The pair are expected to hold a joint press conference.
10 minutes ago
Meeting ends between Trump and Putin
Talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have ended after more than two and a half hours. The leaders met in a three-on-three meeting along with top advisers a for high-stakes summit in Alaska that could determine the trajectory of the war in Ukraine and the fate of European security.
The pair were expected to hold a joint press conference at the end of the summit.
Today 05:43 PM
Trump-Putin summit began with the cosy chat aboard 'The Beast'
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's summit in Alaska started with a very stage-managed opening - each leader descending from their respective airplanes, a visibly warm handshake on the tarmac. Pats on the arm. A military overfly.
Then things veered off script.
Putin slipped into the back of 'The Beast' alongside Trump, where they held their first substantial in-person conversation in six years alone inside the US president's armoured limousine - out of earshot of their aides, officials and the assembled world media.
The short ride from the tarmac to the summit room at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a US military facility, took less than 10 minutes. But it gave both leaders the chance for the most private of conversations at a meeting the whole world is watching and studying intensely.
It was unclear whether their ride together was planned, or a last-second improvisation by the pair. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
On a podium moments earlier, Trump and Putin posed for photographs as reporters shouted out questions. One yelled whether Putin would "still be killing civilians" but the Russian president pointed to his ear and shook his head that he couldn't hear.
Trump then called time and gestured for Putin to walk with him toward the vehicle. The Russian leader was captured by the cameras smiling through the window as it drew away.
The Russian presidential limousine stood nearby.
A blue-walled room was set up for the talks, adorned with American and Russian flags. Next to Trump were an interpreter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff. On Putin's side, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. local time, the formal summit began. At stake: the future of Ukraine, peace in Europe, and the economies of Russia and its trading partners, under threat of increased US financial penalties if talks fail.
In practice, the actual discussions had already started. Only Trump and Putin may know what was said.
Bloomberg
Today 05:32 PM
Today 05:25 PM
Trump-Putin summit enters second hour
Discussions between US president Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin stretched into a second hour at a summit in Alaska, as the US leader pushes to secure an end to the war in Ukraine.
Reporters were ushered into a room at the start of the formal talks, but the two leaders did not take any questions. Alongside Trump were US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, while Putin was joined by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
A prior summit between the two leaders in Helsinki in 2018 lasted roughly two hours. A joint press conference with Trump and Putin is planned to take place after their meeting.
Today 04:47 PM
Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported Friday that President Vladimir Putin will use Aurus, a high-end Russian-made limousine, in Alaska.
The agencies posted footage of a black limousine with Russian license plates and a small Russian flag attached to the hood driving around the tarmac.
Putin brought Aurus on foreign trips before, and even gifted one to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov will join the Russian leader during his 'three-on-three' meeting with Trump, Rubio and Witkoff.
Lavrov and Ushakov took part in the first in-person Russia-US talks in February this year.
The Russian president hasn't been to the United States since a 2015 meeting at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on war crimes accusations for Putin in 2023. But the U.S. isn't a member of that global body, so officials are under no obligation to arrest him.
Today 04:46 PM
Never miss an opportunity
While Trump was meeting privately with his top aides and Putin, his political team sent out a fundraising email that said, 'I'm meeting with Putin in Alaska!'
'It's a little chilly,' the fundraising pitch said. 'THIS MEETING IS VERY HIGH STAKES for the world.'
It also said, 'No one in the world knows how to make deals like me!' and encouraged people to donate, suggesting they start with $10.
Today 04:22 PM
Morgan mistakenly reposts picture of Trump wearing kneepads ahead of Putin meeting
Piers Morgan said he thought a picture of Donald Trump wearing kneepads was a real image of the president preparing for his 'high stakes' summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin, adding that he deleted the photo when he realised it was fake.
The British tabloid host went on to claim that the satirical pic of Trump merely came across his social media feed and he immediately reposted it alongside well-wishes to Trump.
Morgan faced a flood of mockery for posting the mocked-up photo of the president, something he acknowledged after deleting the image.
Hours before Trump actually touched down in Alaska for the summit with Putin, which is part of an attempt by the president to secure a ceasefire agreement in the bloody Ukraine-Russia war, Morgan – who has enjoyed a long friendship with Trump – posted an altered picture of the president exiting Air Force One. Apparently believing this was a live photo and that the president had just landed in Anchorage, the Piers Morgan Uncensored host delivered a message of hope ahead of Trump's meeting with Putin.
'As President [Donald Trump] lands in Alaska, I wish him the very best of luck in trying to secure an end to the horrendous war in Ukraine,' Morgan tweeted. 'It's refreshing to see a U.S. president who genuinely prefers peace to war.'
With the picture showing a waving Trump donning bright red kneepads, it didn't take long for Morgan to get inundated with comments from other users on X asking him if he was aware that he had shared a meme that was mocking the president.
'Did you intentionally post a photo with Trump wearing knee pads or are [you] just an idiot? Evil or idiot? Which is it?' one poster pressed Morgan, prompting the presenter to chalk it up his tweet to ignorance.
'No.. I didn't see the kneepads on that pic, so just deleted and reposted with a different pic!' Morgan replied.
Today 03:40 PM
Images from Alaska as Trump and Putin meet in person for the first time since a summit in Helsinki in 2018.
The leaders have begun a meeting which is aimed at laying the groundwork for peace in Ukraine.
Photos: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters.
Today 03:34 PM
Trump and Putin begin meeting in Alaska
US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin began their meeting on Friday in Alaska.
The two leaders made no statements and took no questions as they sat side by side.
Today 03:20 PM
US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. The two leaders are meeting for peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Today 02:45 PM
Donald Trump arrives in Alaska ahead of his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The meeting is scheduled to take place in less than an hour.
Today 02:29 PM
One-on-one between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is altered last-minute
What was promised as a one-on-one face to face meeting between Trump and Putin has now become a three v three meeting with Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff now joining Trump for the talks. It is unclear who will accompany Putin in the much-anticipated talks aimed at securing a path to peace in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Today 01:59 PM
Russian government plane lands in Alaska ahead of Putin-Trump talks
A Russian government plane landed in Alaska ahead of the talks between the Russian and U.S. presidents on Friday, according to flight tracking system Flightradar24.
It was not clear whether Vladimir Putin was on board. The plane departed from Russia's Far Eastern town Magadan, where the Russian president was earlier on Friday.
ALASKA, UNITED STATES - AUGUST 15: The plane carrying Russian President Vladimir Putin lands ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump at Elmendorf-Richardson Joint Base in Alaska, United States on August 15, 2025. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Today 01:38 PM
Today 01:33 PM
Trump heads to Alaska summit with Putin, says he wants Ukraine ceasefire 'today'
Donald Trump said he wanted to see a ceasefire "today" as he headed to Alaska on Friday for a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin to help end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.
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 and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine.
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."
The U.S. and Russian presidents are due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska's largest city at around 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) for their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House.
Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war will 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 unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy.
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the pre-summit mood as "combative" and said the two leaders would discuss not only Ukraine but the full spectrum of bilateral relations, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
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 that if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be even more important than his encounter with Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a three-way summit would be possible if the Alaska talks bore fruit, Interfax news agency reported. Peskov also said Friday's talks could last 6-7 hours and that aides would take part in what had been expected to be one-to-one meetings.
Zelenskiy said the 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 on Friday. 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.
'Smart guy'
The Kremlin said Putin would arrive in Alaska at 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) and would be met at his plane by Trump.
"He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time but so have I... We get along, there's a good respect level on both sides," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring a lot of businesspeople with him 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.
One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs that 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 that Ukraine's future is in the alliance.
Russia, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, is vulnerable to further U.S. 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 next February.
Common ground?
The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground.
"Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon... because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.
Putin has said he is open to a full ceasefire but that issues of verification must first be sorted out. One compromise could be a truce in the air war.
Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. It is unclear how that guarantee could work.
Ukrainians who spoke to Reuters in central Kyiv on Friday were not optimistic about the summit.
"Nothing good will happen there, because war is war, it will not end. The territories - we're not going to give anything to anyone," said Tetiana Harkavenko, a 65-year-old cleaner.
Today 01:32 PM
Russia's President Vladimir Putin listens to explanations as he visits a plant of Omega-Sea enterprise in the far eastern port city of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, August 15, 2025. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Pool via REUTERS
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Magadan region's Governor Sergei Nosov as he visits the far eastern port city of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, August 16, 2025. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Pool
Russia's President Vladimir Putin listens to explanations as he visits a plant of Omega-Sea enterprise in the far eastern port city of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, August 15, 2025. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Pool via REUTERS
Today 01:29 PM
Zelenskiy says Russia continues attacking Ukraine ahead of summit
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday Russia was continuing to attack Ukraine ahead of a summitin Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, but its attempt to "show strength" with a new assault in the east had failed.
"On the day of the negotiations, they also kill people. And that says a lot," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.
"The war continues. It continues precisely because there is no order, nor any indication that Moscow is preparing to end this war," he added.
Earlier, Ukrainian regional officials said Russia had launched a ballistic missile into Dnipropetrovsk region in eastern Ukraine, killing one person and wounding at least one other, while a drone damaged civilian infrastructure and caused a fire in Sumy region in the northeast.
The city of Dnipro is a logistics hub for Ukrainian forces, and the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions border the combat zone and are regularly shelled by Russian forces.
Ukraine said this week that small groups of Russian infantry had thrust some 10 kilometres (six miles) towards the main defensive line near the eastern town of Dobropillia, raising fears of a wider breakthrough that would further threaten key cities.
However, officials said on Thursday that Ukrainian troops had managed to stabilise the battlefield in the area.
Commenting on the matter on Friday, Zelenskiy said: "The Russian intention was to show strength ahead of Alaska but in fact, for the occupiers, this is ending with their destruction."
Reuters
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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 and recognising - if only informally - Russian control over one fifth of Ukraine.
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."
The U.S. and Russian presidents are due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska's largest city at around 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) for their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House.
Trump hopes a truce in the 3-1/2-year-old war will 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 unravelled and that Moscow is retaking its rightful place at the top table of international diplomacy.
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev described the pre-summit mood as "combative" and said the two leaders would discuss not only Ukraine but the full spectrum of bilateral relations, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
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 that if Friday's talks went well, quickly arranging a second, three-way summit with Zelenskiy would be even more important than his encounter with Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a three-way summit would be possible if the Alaska talks bore fruit, Interfax news agency reported. Peskov also said Friday's talks could last 6-7 hours and that aides would take part in what had been expected to be one-to-one meetings.
Zelenskiy said the 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 on Friday. A Russian ballistic missile earlier struck Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and wounding another.
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"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.
The Kremlin said Putin would arrive in Alaska at 11 a.m. (1900 GMT) and would be met at his plane by Trump.
"He is a smart guy, been doing it for a long time but so have I... We get along, there's a good respect level on both sides," Trump said of Putin. He also welcomed Putin's decision to bring a lot of businesspeople with him 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.
One source acquainted with Kremlin thinking said there were signs that 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 that Ukraine's future is in the alliance.
Russia, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, is vulnerable to further U.S. 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 next February.
The source familiar with Kremlin thinking said it looked as if the two sides had been able to find some common ground.
"Apparently, some terms will be agreed upon... because Trump cannot be refused, and we are not in a position to refuse (due to sanctions pressure)," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.
Putin has said he is open to a full ceasefire but that issues of verification must first be sorted out. One compromise could be a truce in the air war.
Zelenskiy has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States. It is unclear how that guarantee could work.
Ukrainians who spoke to Reuters in central Kyiv on Friday were not optimistic about the summit.
"Nothing good will happen there, because war is war, it will not end. The territories - we're not going to give anything to anyone," said Tetiana Harkavenko, a 65-year-old cleaner.