Trump said he and Vladimir Putin did not reach an agreement on “probably the most significant” aspect of their meeting in Alaska, but they made progress in several areas.
US President Donald Trump said his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was ’10’ out of 10, adding that both sides agreed on a lot of points, although there is “no deal until there’s a deal”.
Speaking to Fox News‘ Sean Hannity, Trump said, “We had a very good meeting today, but we’ll see. You have to get a deal. We agreed on a lot of points. I want to see people stop dying.”
He also expressed happiness when Putin publicly stated that the Ukraine war would have never happened if Trump were president in 2022, instead of Joe Biden.
Trump held a historic meeting with Putin on Friday (local time) and said that many points were agreed to and “very points” were left unsolved with Moscow. The two world leaders met at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where Trump welcomed him on a red carpet. They held an over three-hour-long meeting behind closed doors and then appeared for a joint press conference.
He also criticised Biden’s handling of the crisis, saying Ukraine could not possibly agree to a deal with Russia because former President Joe Biden “handed out money like it was candy,” referring to the billions of dollars in military aid.
Trump said he believed the deal was close to being agreed upon but that “so many things can happen.”
“But I think President Putin would like to solve the problem,” he said. “And it was a problem that should have never happened.”
Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting
The US President said he would now set up a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying it was up to the latter to get the job done. ” I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it’s up to President Zelenskyy,” he said.
“They’re going to set up a meeting now between President Zelenskyy and President Putin. And myself, I guess. I didn’t ask about it. Not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done. And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done,” he told Fox News.
He said Ukraine has to agree to a peace agreement, saying his message to Zelenskyy would be to “make a deal”. There was no reaction from Ukraine to the summit. Zelenskyy had earlier ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the United States.
The high-stakes Alaska summit yielded no apparent breakthrough on Ukraine, although both leaders described the talks as productive, without offering much details. The two leaders offered warm words for each other in a joint press conference, but took no questions from reporters.
Putin said he expected Ukraine and its European allies to accept the results of the US-Russia negotiation constructively and not try to “disrupt the emerging progress.” He said, “I expect that today’s agreements will become a reference point, not only for solving the Ukrainian problem, but will also launch the restoration of business-like, pragmatic relations between Russia and the United States.”
