August 15, 2025: Trump-Putin summit ends without concrete deal

Our live coverage of the Trump-Putin summit and Ukraine diplomacy has moved here.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky and Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene

Senior government officials in Eastern Europe have reacted with skepticism to comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin following the Alaska summit.

While saying he was interested in ending the conflict, Putin said the primary causes needed to be “eliminated” for that to happen, adding that the “situation in Ukraine” had to do with “fundamental threats to (Russia’s) security.”

In a post on X on Saturday morning local time, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene accused Putin of “more gaslighting and veiled threats,” a reference to the Russian leader issuing a warning to Ukraine and Europe not to “sabotage” progress made at the summit.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement that he welcomed US President Donald Trump’s efforts but doubted Putin’s interest in a deal, according to Reuters.

“If Putin were serious about negotiating peace, he would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today,” he said.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin skipped answering questions at Friday’s joint news conference because their statements said it all, according to the Kremlin’s spokesperson.

“Exhaustive statements were made,” Dmitry Peskov said when asked why the two leaders only delivered remarks at the news conference, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

“The conversation is really very positive, and the two presidents spoke about it. This is the very conversation that allows us to confidently continue moving forward together on the path of seeking resolution options,” Peskov said, RIA reported.

President Donald Trump said he appreciated Hillary Clinton saying she’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize if he brokered peace in Ukraine — even as he maintained he’s not campaigning for the award.

“I don’t want to be involved in such stuff,” he said, before adding that his former presidential rival’s remarks were “very nice. If she said that, it’s very nice. I really appreciate it too, actually.”

Clinton said earlier Friday that she would personally nominate Trump for the prize if he were the “architect” of ending Russia’s war on Ukraine, but only if he could do so without Ukraine having to cede territory to Russia.

President Donald Trump delivers a statement during a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska.

President Donald Trump said that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky want him to attend a future potential meeting between the two leaders to discuss a path to peace.

“They both want me there,” Trump said in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. “They both want me there, and I’ll be there.”

Asked if he was confident peace could happen in a relatively short time period, Trump replied: “Fairly short, yeah.”

Trump also conceded that he was wrong to think the Russia-Ukraine conflict would be “the easiest” of all the conflicts to solve, harkening back to his campaign promise to end the war in 24 hours.

“I thought this would be the easiest of them all, and it was the most difficult,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump signaled he’d hold off on imposing more sanctions or other “severe consequences” against Russia after concluding that his meeting with Vladimir Putin today had gone “very well.”

“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”

Trump at one point had threatened to impose harsh sanctions on Russia earlier this month to pressure Putin to halt his war against Ukraine. But Trump backed off that deadline after Putin agreed to a face-to-face meeting.

President Donald Trump says he agreed with his Russian counterpart in talks Friday that the Ukraine war will end with land swaps and some type of security guarantee from the US.

Asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity about territorial concessions that would give Russia land it didn’t have previously and potential US security assurances for Ukraine, Trump said it was a point of agreement with Vladimir Putin.

“Well, I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on,” he said. “Actually, I think we agree on a lot. I can tell you, the meeting was a warm meeting.”

He called Putin a “strong guy” and “tough as hell,” but said the meeting was positive.

“I think we’re pretty close to the end. And look, Ukraine has to agree to it,” he said.

Trump’s advice to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “Gotta make a deal.”

President Donald Trump said that he would grade his meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin today a “10,” despite earlier telling reporters that if a ceasefire weren’t reached today, he would not be “happy.”

Instead, Trump, who was interviewed on “Hannity” on Fox News, said that he would give the meeting high marks, because they got along well.

President Donald Trump sits for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, following Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

President Donald Trump is putting the onus on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate a ceasefire, saying Friday evening that there would soon be a meeting set up between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Now it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” Trump said in a Fox News interview following his sitdown with Putin in Alaska. “They’re going to set up a meeting now between President Zelensky and President Putin and myself, I guess.”

Trump during the interview declined to detail the final issues that are holding up a deal, saying only that he wants “to see what we can get done.” But despite not reaching an agreement on Friday, he touted the summit as a success, ranking the meeting a 10 out of 10, “in the sense that we got along great.”

“I want to make sure it gets done,” he added. “And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin smiles during a joint news conference with US President Donald Trump.

Ukraine could have had a worse night. No deal was cooked up without them.

US President Donald Trump looked upset and tired. Perhaps because Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared unbowed, still talking about the “root causes” of the war, and sounding unreformed. In what sounded like a threat, he even warned Kyiv and its European allies to not meddle in whatever ongoing process he believes he has dragged Trump into.

Trump’s call to Kyiv and its NATO allies may present some sort of framework that Putin deemed an “agreement,” but ultimately in the look on Trump’s face and his words, it was clear he made no significant deal that he thinks will fly. The two didn’t even have lunch together and Putin raced out on his plane.

The hardest bits of negotiations are the bits that are left to be agreed at the end. And Trump’s statement that there were some “big” things left unsolved suggests little movement on issues like what land Putin wants and a ceasefire.

But there are two big wins here for Putin. First, the remarkable vision of a red carpet welcome to the United States and a ride in “the Beast” — which both present as an extraordinary form of reputational rehabilitation for an alleged war criminal. It was a horrific sight for many Ukrainians; soured further still by the Kremlin head calling Ukraine a “brotherly” nation, despite murdering its civilians for three and a half years.

The second win is time. Putin has bought more for his forces to advance across the frontline. It is unclear if Trump is sufficiently riled that secondary sanctions may follow in the days ahead. But Putin did not seem to behave as if he was in a hurry, suggesting further meetings and ongoing work. Time matters as Putin’s summer offensive is close to turning incremental gains into strategic wins.

In the end, Ukraine will wake up with its world unchanged. A ghastly world, but with no sudden US-Russian rapprochement or deal to try and swallow.

You can also watch the report here on YouTube

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged from their high-stakes meeting without a clear agreement on the war in Ukraine.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said, adding that he’ll make calls to NATO and Kyiv.

The two did not take questions from reporters after their joint news briefing.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive to hold a joint news conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers remarks during Friday's briefing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin began remarks at the briefing by acknowledging that US-Russia relations have suffered in recent years.

People watch the news conference at Tatiana restaurant in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin “made some headway” and “great progress” in their bilateral meeting. Still, he added, “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.” Putin said the primary causes of the war must be eliminated for the war in Ukraine to end.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures toward US President Donald Trump while speaking at Friday's news conference.

The shadows of the two leaders are cast on a wall behind their podiums.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin leave at the conclusion of the news briefing.

US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

President Donald Trump has left Alaska following his inconclusive summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Air Force One departed Elmendorf Air Force Base around 4:20 p.m. local time and is now heading back to Washington, DC.

Trump was on the ground in Alaska for about six hours.

Russia’s top economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev said the US received Russia “very well” in Alaska and that the two countries would continue building relations despite “resistance.”

“The US-Russia summit in Alaska has definitely been productive,” Dmitriev said, adding that there were “lots of issues that we discussed and many we agreed.”

“Some of them are to be agreed and definitely it’s very important that President Trump outlines a significant economic potential of cooperation between the US and Russia,” said Dmitriev.

“We will continue building US-Russia relations going forward despite lots of the resistance to this, but we will continue strengthening US-Russia ties.”

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said President Donald Trump’s summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin didn’t yield any results.

The Connecticut senator went on to criticize Trump for touting his friendship with Putin during the press briefing, pointing to the Russian president’s actions in Ukraine.

Prior to boarding his plane, Russian President Vladimir Putin laid flowers on the graves of Soviet soldiers at the Fort Richardson Memorial Cemetery after a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska.

Video released by the Kremlin showed Putin kneeling and leaving a bouquet at a gravesite before making the sign of the cross.

The graves honor the Soviet pilots and sailors who died while bringing equipment from the US to the USSR during World War II, the Kremlin said.

Ahead of the summit, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin planned to visit the memorial site.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a joint press conference.

No one really knows what Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed today during their lengthy summit in Alaska, as the two did not take questions from reporters after a joint news briefing.

But the closed-door talks were ultimately characterized positively by both leaders, even though a critical deal on ending the war in Ukraine was not reached.

Here are key lines from the briefing that you should know:

Breaking tradition: Putin began remarks at the briefing by acknowledging that US-Russia relations have suffered in recent years. Usually when an American president hosts a foreign counterpart, a joint news conference would begin with remarks from the US leader followed by his guest.

Progress on reaching a deal: Trump said he and Putin “made some headway” and “great progress” in their bilateral meeting. Still, he added, “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.” Putin said the primary causes of the war must be eliminated for the war in Ukraine to end. The Russian leader also told Ukrainian and European leaders not to interfere with “the emerging progress.”

Positive summary: Negotiations between Putin and Trump were held in a “respectful, constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere,” Putin said. Trump said they had “an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to.”

Other topics mentioned: Putin said he agrees that the security of Ukraine should be ensured. He also claimed at one point that the war in Ukraine would not have happened had Trump been president in 2022.

What’s next: Trump said he has various calls to make following the summit — some of which include calls to NATO, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other appropriate officials.

You can also watch the video above on YouTube Shorts.

CNN’s Aditi Sangal, Nina Subkhanberdina, Darya Tarasova, Michael Rios, Kit Maher, Tori B. Powell, Kevin Liptak, Katharina Krebs, Mitchell McCluskey, and Adam Cancryn contributed reporting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen boarding a plane less than an hour after he delivered a press conference with US President Donald Trump following their talks.

Just before boarding, he turned around to wave and bow.

In Russia, the reaction to the summit between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump has been more than positive. Russian media was ecstatic when the Russian leader received applause from the US president as the red carpet was literally rolled out for Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

“For years they have been talking about the isolation of Russia, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian president,” Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry wrote on social media.

While both Trump and Putin said agreements have been reached, it’s unclear what exactly those are. Meanwhile, Putin does not appear to have backed down from Russia’s core demands.

The Russian leader in his remarks after the meeting said any deal needs “to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole.”

It’s not clear how much progress was made toward a ceasefire in Ukraine, but both Trump and Putin have said they ultimately want to normalize relations between the US and Russia and they want to meet again.

“Next time in Moscow,” Russia’s leader said.

The red-carpet welcome in Alaska for Russian President Vladimir Putin signals that US President Donald Trump “thinks Putin is, you know, an equal,” says CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Trump treated Putin like “this big shot on the world stage, and he’s been treated by the rest of the west as a kind of pariah,” Zakaria said, referring to an ICC war crimes warrant issued for the Russian president’s arrest that restricts his movements around the globe.

“So there was a lot of the atmospherics that were cringeworthy,” he said.