Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at a US military base near Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025 (CNN)

EA on International Outlets: Can Ukraine-Europe Get Progress from Trump-Putin Meeting?

UPDATE 1517 GMT:

European leaders have been invited to join Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington for his talks with Donald Trump on Monday, say “two senior European officials”.

UPDATE 1412 GMT:

“Four people with direct knowledge of the talks” say that in talks with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin demanded Ukraine’s full withdrawal from the Donetsk region in the east of the country.

Despite relentless offensives and a costly, gradual advance, Russia does not control part of Donetsk.

Putin indicated he would freeze the frontline in southern Ukraine if his demand for the east was met.

In a phone call on Saturday, Trump told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders of the demand, as he urged them to stop pursuit of a ceasefire.

Putting pressure on Zelensky, he said Putin told him that Russia was making significant progress on the frontlines and that if he wanted, he could capture the entire Donetsk region and other areas where fighting is taking place.

UPDATE 1250 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned:

Based on the political and diplomatic situation around Ukraine, and knowing Russia’s treachery, we anticipate that in the coming days the Russian army may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk added:

The game for Ukraine’s future, Poland’s security, and all of Europe has entered a decisive phase. Today, it is even clearer that Russia respects only the strong, and Putin has once again proven to be a cunning and ruthless player. Therefore, maintaining the unity of the entire West is so important.

UPDATE 1150 GMT:

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says discussion of security guarantees was the area of the “most interesting developments” in Donald Trump’s talks with Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Meloni said that Trump is following the Italian idea of security guarantees “inspired by NATO’s Article 5”, in which each signatory commits itself to the defense of another who is attacked.

A “source familiar with the matter” confirmed that the issue was discussed during Trump’s call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders early Saturday.

Zelensky posted, “Security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term, with the involvement of both Europe and the US”:

UPDATE 1131 GMT:

European leaders, including those on the phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, have issued a joint statement.

Flattering Trump by welcoming his “efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace”, they said “the next step must now be further talks including President Zelensky, whom he will meet soon”.

Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We welcome President Trump’s statement that the US is prepared to give security guarantees. The coalition of the willing is ready to play an active role. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries. Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine’s pathway to EU and NATO.

It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.

Our support to Ukraine will continue. We are determined to do more to keep Ukraine strong in order to achieve an end to the fighting and a just and lasting peace.

They added, “We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy.”

The signatories were French President Emmanuel Macron; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz; UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer; Finnish President Alexander Stubb; Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk; European Council President António Costa; and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas added, “The EU and our European partners worked to coordinate with President Trump ahead of Alaska meeting. But the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon.”

UPDATE 1123 GMT:

Confirming that Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the White House on Monday, Donald Trump said that “if it all works out”, he intends to “schedule a meeting with President Putin”.

UPDATE 1110 GMT:

In his call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, Donald Trump effectively rejected their priority of a ceasefire.

Trump said Vladimir Putin does not want a ceasefire and prefers a comprehensive agreement to end Russia’s invasion.

He added, “I think a fast peace deal is better than a ceasefire.”

Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, noted:

Unfortunately, Trump has taken Putin’s position, and this was Putin’s demand.

In Putin’s view, a peace agreement means several dangerous things — Ukraine not joining Nato, his absurd demands for “denazification” and “demilitarization”, the Russian language, and the Russian church.

French President Emmanuel Macron reacted on social media:

We are aligned in stating:

*that it is essential to continue supporting Ukraine and to maintain pressure on Russia as long as its war of aggression continues and a solid and lasting peace respectful of Ukraine’s rights has not been achieved;

*that any lasting peace must be accompanied by unwavering security guarantees. In this regard, I welcome the United States’ willingness to contribute.

UPDATE 1058 GMT:

The Kremlin is celebrating the outcome of the meeting in Alaska.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev cheered that Donald Trump welcomed Vladimir Putin with no preconditions as Russia continued its assault on Ukraine, and that Putin was able to press his ultimata for Kyiv’s capitulation.

He noted Trump’s message that it is now up to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to “get it done”: “Both sides directly placed responsibility for achieving future results in negotiations on ending military actions on Kyiv and Europe,.”

Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova cheered, “Western media are on the verge of completely losing it. For three years they told everyone Russia was isolated and today they saw a beautiful red carpet laid out for the Russian president in the US.”

UPDATE 0742 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says he will meet Donald Trump in Washington on Monday:

UPDATE 0729 GMT:

The Ukrainian outlet Suspilne says the call with Donald Trump included Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and the heads of government of France, Germany, Finland, Poland, Italy, and the UK.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s envoy to Russia, real estate developer Steve Witkoff were also on the call.

UPDATE 0703 GMT:

The White House says Donald Trump has had a “lengthy” call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and is now on the phone with leaders of NATO countries.

The White House also declared that Trump hand-delivered a letter from his wife Melania, to Putin, mentioning children abducted by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have documented almost 20,000 juveniles deported to Russia or Russian-occupied territory. They say the actual number could be up to 300,000.

UPDATE 0700 GMT:

The normally pro-Trump Fox TV features a brutal takedown of the reality TV star:

An editorial in the Kyiv Independent gets to the point:

Sickening. Shameful. And in the end, useless.

Those were the words that came to mind when we watched the Alaska Summit unfold.

On our screens, a blood-soaked dictator and war criminal received a royal welcome in the land of the free — as his attack drones headed for our cities….

Trump didn’t get what he wanted. But Putin? He sure did.

From the moment he stepped off the plane on US soil, the Russian dictator was beaming.

No longer an international pariah, he was finally getting accepted – and respected — by the leader of the free world. Trump’s predecessor once called Putin a murderer; Trump offered him a king’s welcome.

The critique concludes, “Trump fails to grasp that Putin isn’t transactional about Ukraine – he is messianic. He wants Ukraine for Russia, period. For Putin and his inner circle, Ukraine’s independence is an accident, and they are correcting it.”

UPDATE 0649 GMT:

Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov has stressed that the possibility of a three-way meeting of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump was not discussed in Alaska on Friday.

Trump had told reporters he might attend a forthcoming meeting between Zelensky and Putin, but said it was now up to the Ukrainian to “get it done”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska has quickly come and gone, with no significant developments over Russia’s 41 1/2-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But Putin left Alaska after a relatively brief single session, and a briefer press appearance, having pushed back Trump’s threat of toughened sanctions on Moscow and its trading partners.

And the Russian leader humbled a weak and uncomfortable Trump on US soil.

Putin Seizes the Narrative, Maintains His Ultimata

Trump welcomed Putin at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base near Anchorage, with three rounds of applause — censored from video circulated by the White House — a warm handshake.

The two men were then supposed to have a three-on-three session including their top top advisors, a wider meeting of delegations, and a working lunch. The Kremlin said the total duration would six to seven hours.

But the “narrow” meeting lasted only around 90 minutes. Then Putin and Trump appeared before the media, in front of an Orwellian backdrop, “Pursuing Peace”.

Unusually, the guest rather than the host spoke first. Putin seized the narrative by pushing aside any substantive mention of his invasion. Instead, he put the emphasis on his framing of Russian-US relations as two powers running the world politically and economically.

He cushioned his supremacy over Trump with the requisite flattery, and the implicit insult of the Biden Administration bolstering Ukraine’s defense against the invasion:

Today President Trump was saying that if he was president back then, there would be no war, and I’m quite sure that it would indeed be so.

I can confirm that.

The talks were no more than a “reference point”, Putin said. He whitewashed his invasion as a response to “fundamental threats to our national security”, lashing out at Ukraine’s European backers for supposedly “creating obstacles” to peace.

Effectively pushing back the priority of a ceasefire, which Trump had adopted after a Wednesday phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and nine European leaders, he maintained his ultimata for Kyiv’s capitulation.

As always, he framed the demands as the “root causes” of the invasion without specifically referring to them: Russia’s seizure of more than 20% of Ukraine must be legally recognized; the rest of the country must be kept weak and demilitarized; and sanctions must be lifted on Moscow.

Putin did not commit to talks with Zelensky as well as Trump. Instead, when Trump referred to a follow-up meeting with Putin, the Russian grabbed the advantage, “Next time in Moscow”. Caught off-guard, Trump replied, “Oh, that’s an interesting one. I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.”

Trump Fumbles

Posing as Putin spoke but looking uncertain, Trump rambled with no point in his statement. Even as he declared productive talks, he implicitly confirmed that there had been no progress: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

Amid his word salad, there was much praise for Putin: “I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin – with Vladimir.” And he appeared more concerned with his personal grievances than with his guest’s actions: at length, he complained about the investigation of Russia’s support for his 2016 Presidential campaign and his cover-up of the cooperation.

At the end of his statement, he said, almost as a throwaway comment, that he would call Zelensky. However, he put the onus on the Ukrainian President, saying it is now up to Zelensky to “get it done”.

The two men departed without taking any questions.

On safer ground, in an interview with his friend Fox TV’s Sean Hannity, Trump gave himself and Putin a “10” because “it’s good when two big powers get along”. He focused on Putin’s assurance that Trump had not lost the 2020 Presidential election.

Vladimir Putin said something – one of the most interesting things. He said: ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting….No country has mail-in voting. It’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.”…

He said: “You won that election by so much and that’s how we got here.” He said: “And if you would have won, we wouldn’t have had a war. You’d have all these millions of people alive now instead of dead.” And he said: “You lost it because of mail-in voting. It was a rigged election.”

“On The Day of Negotiations, The Russian Are Killing”

In his nightly address to the nation, posted just before the Trump-Putin appearance, Zelensky noted that Russia was continuing its attacks on Ukraine’s civilians. He emphasized:

We count on a strong position from America. Everything will depend on this – the Russians factor in American strength. Make no mistake – strength.

While Putin manipulated Trump, air raid alerts sounded in regions in eastern Ukraine. Air defenses downed 62 of 85 drones overnight, and the Russians also launched a missile in attacks on the Sumy, Donetsk, Chernihiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Zelensky said Russia is planning new offensives in the area, and Ukrainian military intelligence said Russia is preparing to conduct tests of a new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile.