US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin left Alaska without reaching an agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
After an almost three-hour meeting, the leaders delivered a joint statement to the media before leaving without taking questions.
Three BBC correspondents who are in Anchorage for the summit assess what it means for the US and Russian leaders as well as what happens next in the war in Ukraine.
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Donald Trump said early in his post-summit remarks here in Anchorage. It was a roundabout way of conceding that after several hours of talks, there’s no deal. No ceasefire. Nothing tangible to report.
The president said that he and Vladimir Putin made “some great progress”, but with little details about what that might be, it’s left to the world’s imagination.
“We didn’t get there,” he later said, before exiting the room without taking any questions from the hundreds of gathered reporters.
Trump travelled a long way to only produce such vagaries, even if America’s European allies and Ukrainian officials may be relieved he did not offer unilateral concessions or agreements that could have undermined future negotiations.
For the man who likes to tout himself as a peacemaker and a dealmaker, it appears that Trump will leave Alaska with neither.
There are also no indications that a future summit that includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is forthcoming, Putin’s “next time in Moscow” quip about their next meeting notwithstanding.
While Trump had less at stake during these negotiations than Ukraine or Russia, it still will put a dent in his domestic and international prestige after earlier promises that this meeting had only a 25% chance of failure.
What’s more, the president had to suffer the apparent indignity of standing silent as Putin started off the press-conference-that-wasn’t with extensive opening remarks. It was a marked difference than the normal routine in the Oval Office, when the US president typically holds court while his foreign counterpart looks on without comment.
While Alaska is American territory, Putin seemed more at home in what his officials like to note was once “Russian America” before its 19th Century sale to the US. That may eat at the American president over the comings days, as will press coverage that will present this summit as a flop.
The big question now – one reporters were unable to ask on Friday – is whether Trump will decide to impose his much-threatened new sanctions on Russia as punishment.
The president partially addressed that in the friendly confines of a Fox News interview before flying out, saying that he would consider such a move “maybe in two weeks, three weeks”. But given the president promised “severe consequences” if Russia did not move towards a ceasefire, such a unspecific answer may prompt more questions than it answers.
When is a “press conference” not a press conference?
When there are no questions.
There was palpable surprise in the hall when Presidents Putin and Trump left the podium as soon as they’d delivered their statements – without taking any questions.
Members of the Russian delegation, too, left the room swiftly without answering any of the questions journalists were shouting at them.
Clear signs that when it comes to the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump still have a major difference of opinion.
Donald Trump has been pushing for a Russian ceasefire. Vladimir Putin didn’t give it to him. There was a very different vibe earlier in the day. President Trump had rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, treating the Kremlin leader as an honoured guest.
Today the Russian president got his moment in the geo-political limelight, sharing the stage with the leader of the world’s most powerful country.
But how will Trump react to what happened? He still hasn’t managed to persuade Putin to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Previously he’d threatened a tougher approach to Russia, with ultimatums, deadlines and warnings of more sanctions if Moscow ignored calls for a ceasefire.
He hasn’t followed through.
Will he?
What just happened in Anchorage may feel anti-climactic for many, but in Kyiv there will be sighs of relief that no “deal” has been announced that would cost Ukraine territory.
People of Ukraine will also know that all of their key deals with Russia have ended up broken, so even if one had been announced here in Anchorage, they would have been sceptical.
Ukrainians will be alarmed, however, that at the joint appearance in front of the media Vladimir Putin yet again spoke of the “root causes” of the conflict and said only their removal would lead to lasting peace.
Translated from Kremlin-speak, this means he is still determined to pursue the original objective of his “special military operation” – which is to dismantle Ukraine as an independent state. Three-and-a-half years of Western efforts have failed to make him change his mind, and that now includes the Alaska summit.
The uncertainty that persists after the meeting is also worrying. What happens next? Will Russia’s attacks continue unabated?
The past few months have seen a succession of Western deadlines that came and went without consequences, and threats that were never carried out. Ukrainians see this as an invitation for Putin to continue his attacks. They may see the apparent lack of progress achieved Anchorage in the same light.
By BBC News
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
