US President Donald Trump accorded Russian President Vladimir Putin a very grand reception, bespeaking a degree of excitement that was unique among his welcome for other global leaders.
First meeting in the flesh since 2018, the two leaders shared apparent friendliness.
Famous for identifying himself as a master of deals, Trump made the red carpet welcome for Putin at an Alaskan air base. It was the first time the Russian president had stepped foot on Western territory since he had launched the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump had stood on the tarmac to greet his Russian "friend," applauding as Putin walked toward him, smiling warmly, and extending a firm hand to shake.
While in Ukraine, where the country had hoped that Trump could facilitate peace, one picture from the summit was shared quickly all over the world. It was of US soldiers kneeling as they made adjustments to the red carpet for Putin to walk down from his presidential jet. Mustafa Nayyem, an ex-head of Ukraine's State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, posted the photo on social media accompanied by: "Make kneeling great again."
Even though the two were civil to each other during their meeting, the high-level summit brought no visible breakthrough on Ukraine. Trump and Putin emphasized points of convergence and re-established their personal chemistry but offered no tangible news of a ceasefire.
After three hours of talks with top advisors, the two leaders shared warm words but refused to answer questions from the press—a very unusual step for the media-conscious US president.
"We had a very productive meeting, and there were a lot of points agreed to," Trump said. "There are only a very few that remain, some are not very important, one is likely the most important," he went on to say, without elaborating.
Trump made it clear that it was now the duty of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to take advantage of the Alaska summit and push for the conclusion of Russia's three-year long invasion.
"Now it really is up to President Zelensky to get it accomplished. And I would also say the European countries, they have to step in a little bit, but it's up to President Zelensky," Trump said in an interview with Fox News, giving the meeting a ten out of ten.
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