The much-anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, without any agreement on Ukraine.
Both leaders’ aircraft landed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson shortly after 11 a.m. local time. They met on the runway for a handshake and brief photo opportunity before departing in President Trump’s limousine.
Following another photo session at the summit venue, the two leaders held a three-on-three bilateral meeting. Putin was joined by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev, while Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. The meeting lasted nearly three hours.
At a joint press conference afterward, Trump acknowledged that no deal had been reached on Ukraine but claimed “substantial progress” had been made. Putin, speaking in English, invited Trump to Moscow for their next meeting. Trump joked that accepting the invitation would bring him “a lot of heat” before both leaders departed without taking questions from reporters.
Observers were struck by the brevity of both the meeting and the press conference, which lasted less than 15 minutes. Planned elements of the summit, including a working lunch and a one-on-one session between Trump and Putin, were quietly canceled, fueling speculation about the lack of tangible results.
Numerous senior Russian and American officials with economic and financial portfolios were also present in Anchorage, but no bilateral discussions involving them were reported.
Trump said he would brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO leaders on the summit’s outcome, adding that he would give a post-summit interview on Fox News Friday night.
Putin reiterated Russia’s view of Ukrainians as a “brotherly people” and described the conflict as a “tragedy,” stressing that the “root causes” of the war must be addressed—a phrase he first used in June last year when outlining Russia’s core demands. These same demands were presented to a Ukrainian delegation during talks in Istanbul on June 2.
The meeting was arranged quickly after Trump issued Russia an August 8 deadline to end the war or face secondary tariffs on its trading partners—a threat he has previously expressed reservations about, and a visit by Witkoff to Moscow last week indicate the summit came at Trump's urging, despite claims in the Western media that Putin was the one who initiated the talks.
It remains unclear whether another summit is planned or if Putin is willing to meet directly with Zelensky. Analysts caution that the current cooperative tone could quickly shift should Trump decide Russia is not making sufficient progress, potentially reversing any goodwill achieved in Anchorage.