US president claims ‘great progress’ with Russian leader although meeting in Alaska does not yield agreement to pause war. What we know on day 1,270
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Donald Trump has put the onus on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to reach a ceasefire with Russia after the US leader held direct talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on Friday. Trump said Zelenskyy and Putin were going to set up a meeting to try to reach a ceasefire to end the war in Ukraine. “Now, it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity after his meeting with Putin. “And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit. But it’s up to President Zelenskyy … And if they’d like, I’ll be at that next meeting.”
Trump said the direct talks with Putin on Friday did not yield an agreement to pause the war in Ukraine, though he claimed “great progress” during the nearly three-hour-long summit. “I believe we had a very productive meeting,” the US president said at a joint press conference with Putin after the talks. “There were many, many points that we agreed on.”
Putin, speaking through an interpreter, suggested the two leaders had hammered out “an understanding”. He 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”. The Russian leader agreed that Ukraine’s security must be guaranteed – but also said that the “root causes” of the conflict must be resolved.
