The much-hyped summit between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin ended without a breakthrough on any key issues, including the war in Ukraine.
There were hopes that Trump would push for an immediate ceasefire, yet Putin left Anchorage, the Alaskan city that hosted the summit, without any concrete agreement.
The summit, however, was noted for its warmth and theatrics, and it clearly gave the Russian president a significant diplomatic victory.
No deal, only vague promises
Trump entered the summit with the ambition of brokering at least a temporary halt to hostilities. He had even floated the possibility of a ceasefire announcement on the day of the meeting itself. After nearly three hours of talks, though, both leaders admitted they had fallen short.
“We haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump said, offering the caveat that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal”. He insisted that “many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left,” but provided no details about what those points might be.
Neither side offered clarity on whether any substantive issues had been discussed or resolved. Both spoke vaguely of “understandings” and “progress” without elaboration. Notably, they avoided taking questions from reporters, an unusual move for Trump, fuelling speculation that there was little real progress to present.
Putin’s return to the world stage
While the summit produced no peace plan, it marked a striking triumph for Putin on the international stage. Sanctioned by the United States since 2022 and wanted by international courts for war crimes, the Russian leader had been treated as a pariah in the West for years. He had not been received at an official American venue since 2007.
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Trump changed all that with the spectacle in Alaska. Putin was greeted with a literal red carpet at a US military base, clapped in by the president, and invited into the presidential limousine for a private ride with Trump, without aides. The sight of Putin laughing from behind the bulletproof glass captured the surreal mood of the day.
For Putin, who has faced isolation since launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the symbolism was powerful. The summit effectively restored him to the company of global leaders, and he managed it without making any public concession to end the war or acknowledging his responsibility for it.
Warmth and deference
Throughout their appearances, Trump and Putin displayed an unusual degree of camaraderie. They laughed together, shared compliments, and spoke warmly of one another. Trump declared, “I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir,” while Putin described Trump as a “dear neighbour” with whom he could do business. He even invited Trump to Moscow, a prospect that the American President did not dismiss outright.
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Trump also showed marked deference, allowing Putin to speak first at their joint event even though the summit was hosted on US soil. Putin made use of the opportunity to give his side of the war and its causes. Trump kept smiling and chose not to challenge the Russian president.
The balance of power at the podium was as telling as the absence of concrete results. The summit also provided Trump with a platform to air familiar grievances. Standing beside Putin, he denounced the investigations into alleged collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia, calling them a “hoax” and “a shared and unfair torment”.
Putin, in turn, appeared eager to indulge Trump’s narrative. He stated that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump still been president, a claim that delighted Trump, who repeated it with satisfaction. Yet the logic of the statement remained untested.
If Putin considered Trump’s presence a guarantee against war, it raised the unanswered question of why the invasion continues even as Trump promises friendlier terms.
Zelenskyy sidelined
If Putin gained legitimacy and Trump basked in personal rapport, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine was left conspicuously absent. Not invited to the summit, Zelenskyy could only watch from a distance as the two most powerful players in the conflict spoke over his nation’s fate.
Zelenskyy had tried to influence the talks by reminding the world of Russia’s continuing strikes on civilian areas. He declared Ukraine’s willingness to work for peace but appealed for a strong stance from Washington. His plea was not answered with fresh assurances of military support.
Trump instead suggested that Ukraine might have to make territorial concessions as part of a future deal, though he said it would be Kyiv’s decision. He spoke of potential security guarantees from the US and Europe, but explicitly ruled out NATO membership.
Perhaps most tellingly, Trump appeared to shift responsibility for ending the conflict onto Zelenskyy himself. He said Putin “wants to solve the problem” and concluded that “now it is really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done”.
Shadows over the talks
The decision to forgo a traditional press conference left much about the summit opaque. Still, Trump hailed the event as a success, rating it a “10” for the rapport established. He even elevated Russia’s status on the world stage, remarking, “We are No. 1 and they are No. 2 in the world.”
He did not dismiss the idea of travelling to Moscow for a future meeting, acknowledging that he “might get a little heat on that one” but could “see it possibly happening”. He also promised to call NATO allies and Zelenskyy afterwards to give them a readout. While no trilateral meeting was set, Trump insisted that he believed Zelenskyy and Putin would eventually meet and that he himself might even participate.
A summit of appearances
The Alaska summit failed to deliver its stated aim of peace in Ukraine, but it succeeded in producing a diplomatic spectacle. For Putin, it was a chance to re-emerge from isolation, welcomed with honours on American soil and treated as a respected partner by the US President. For Trump, it was an opportunity to demonstrate his personal chemistry with the Russian leader and to revisit old battles over past investigations.
What the talks did not deliver was clarity on how or when the war in Ukraine might end. The conflict grinds on, and the costs for Ukraine remain devastating. Yet in Alaska, the image of camaraderie and the revival of Putin’s global standing overshadowed the absence of substance.
