President Donald Trump stated he and Vladimir Putin didn’t attain a deal to finish Russia’s conflict in Ukraine after assembly on Friday — regardless of Putin saying that they had come to “an understanding” — as the 2 leaders supplied scant particulars on what was mentioned whereas heaping reward on one another.
In short remarks as they shared a stage after assembly for about 2 ½ hours in Alaska, Putin stated he and Trump had reached an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe to not “torpedo the nascent progress.”
However Trump then stated, “There’s no deal until there’s a deal” and stated he deliberate to talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders quickly, to temporary them on the discussions.
Donald Trump greets Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to,” Trump stated. “And 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 continued: “We didn’t get there.”
The high-profile summit ended with no deal to finish, and even pause, the brutal battle — the biggest land conflict in Europe since 1945 — which has raged for greater than three years.
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It was an abrupt ending to an in any other case pleasant assembly during which a crimson carpet was rolled out for Putin as he landed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The 2 leaders greeted one another with a handshake and a smile, and Putin even obtained a trip within the presidential limousine — an unusually heat reception for a U.S. adversary.
Whereas the 2 leaders had been nonetheless on the tarmac, reporters close by yelled, “President Putin, will you stop killing civilians?” Russia’s chief put his hand as much as his ear as if to point he couldn’t hear them. Trump and Putin then shared the U.S. presidential limo generally known as “The Beast” for a brief trip to their assembly web site, with Putin providing a broad smile because the automobile rolled previous the cameras.
Zelenskyy and European leaders had been excluded from Trump and Putin’s discussions, and Ukraine’s president was left posting a video handle during which he expressed his hope for a “strong position from the U.S.”
“Everyone wants an honest end to the war. Ukraine is ready to work as productively as possible to end the war,” he stated, later including, “The war continues and it continues precisely because there is no order, nor any signals from Moscow, that it is preparing to end this war.”
Trump had each raised and lowered expectations for the summit, at turns characterizing it as a “feel-out meeting” but in addition warning of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin didn’t agree to finish the conflict.
He boasted earlier than taking workplace that he might finish the conflict in 24 hours, a remark he later stated was in jest. The chance to speak to Putin face-to-face gave him his finest likelihood thus far to get the combating to cease, however he got here up quick.
