U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met face-to-face for almost three hours over Moscow’s war in Ukraine on Friday, the Kremlin said, as the two world leaders sought an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe in 80 years.
There was no immediate word on whether the talks had produced any progress toward a ceasefire in the war, a goal that Trump had set at the outset. The pair were set to jointly speak to reporters shortly.
Trump and Putin, along with top foreign-policy aides, conferred in a room at an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska in their first meeting since 2019. A blue backdrop behind them had the words “Pursuing Peace” printed on it.
Trump’s publicly stated aim for the talks was to secure a halt to the fighting and a commitment by Putin to meet swiftly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to negotiate an end to the war, which began when Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
Earlier in the week, Trump said he would know if Putin was serious about peace within minutes of seeing him. He also threatened to walk out of the talks if they were unproductive.
