US president leaves more questions than answers after summit on ending Ukraine war with Vladimir Putin; White House agrees to scale back takeover of DC police department – key US politics stories from 15 August 2025
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin lavished praise on each other but offered no details of their nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska on Friday, with the US president saying “great progress” but no deal had been made on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal. I will call up Nato … I’ll of course call up [Ukraine’s] President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting,” he said.
Putin, speaking through an interpreter, described Trump’s efforts on Ukraine as “precious” and suggested the two leaders had hammered out “an understanding”. He urged Europe to “not throw a wrench in the works” and “not use backroom dealings” to torpedo it.
As the press conference ended, Putin suggested their next meeting might take place in Moscow and dozens of reporters shouted questions in vain. The US president, who can typically never resist a free-wheeling press conference, left the stage without answering any of them.
