The art of no deal
Donald Trump left more questions than answers on Friday as he claimed “great progress” in his high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, but admitted that no deal had been reached to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.*1
The US president also suggested that it was now up to Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “get it done” and that a meeting would be set up between the Ukrainian president and Putin, which Trump might attend.
“We had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to,” Trump said at a joint press conference in Anchorage, Alaska. “There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant but we have a very good chance of getting there.”
He cautioned: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
The two leaders lavished praise on each other – Putin endorsed Trump’s view that the war would never have started if Trump had won the 2020 election – but offered no details of the nearly three-hour meeting and took no questions from reporters.
A sick obsession
Zelenskyy and European allies may have been alarmed by Trump’s body language and deferential attitude toward Putin, whom he welcomed warmly at an Alaska air force base and allowed to ride in the presidential limousine known as “the beast”.
Trump told reporters: “We really made some great progress today. I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin – with Vladimir.”
The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said Trump had “rolled out the red carpet” for an “authoritarian thug … instead of standing with our allies”.
“While we wait for critical details of what was discussed – on first take it appears Trump handed Putin legitimacy, a global stage, zero accountability, and got nothing in return. Our fear is that this wasn’t diplomacy – it was just theatre.”
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said: “Donald Trump has been cozying up to Vladimir Putin for years, and this meeting underscored the depth of his sick obsession with the Russian dictator and accused war criminal.”
Source: The Guardian
*1 The Trump-Putin Summit, or Alaska 2025 Summit, was a summit meeting between United States president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. It was held on August 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. The main topic of discussion was the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war, which Trump wants to end. It was the first time Vladimir Putin was invited to a Western country since he ordered the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Putin faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. It was also the first time that a Russian presidential visit to the United States has been held on a U.S. military property (Wikipedia).