Immediately after the inconclusive summit in Anchorage, Donald Trump picked up the phone.
He informed in Kyiv about what he and his guest, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, had discussed on the other side of the world without Ukraine and the rest of Europe at the table.
Zelenskyy reacted promptly and announced that he would be at the White House on Monday to meet with the US president in Washington. It is unclear what the two will discuss.
Trump and Putin have
Our correspondent Nicolas Connolly summarized the initial reaction from Kyiv as one of relief that Trump had apparently not completely betrayed Ukraine by handing it over to Moscow.
The fighting and drone attacks between the Russian aggressors and the Ukrainian army continued even during the summit in Alaska.
‘The winner is Putin’
A spokesperson for the German government in Berlin confirmed that Trump also informed and other European heads of state and government about the talks in Alaska that morning.
Merz and the Europeans then discussed how to proceed without Trump. However, the spokesperson for the German government did not disclose what Trump had agreed, if anything, during the summit.
The Europeans continue to advocate for a three-way summit with Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy at the table.
In their initial statements, foreign policy experts from the parties in the Bundestag expressed little hope for a breakthrough.
“The winner of this summit is Putin. He was received at the highest level in the US and at the same time managed to circumvent the US threat of secondary sanctions. And all this without making any concessions of his own,” said Bundestag member Norbert Röttgen, of the center-right , in several interviews.
Just four minutes for Trump
Donald Trump loves to talk, especially about his supposed successes as a skilled negotiator and shrewd statesman. This time in Alaska, things were different.
By his standards, the “deal-maker in chief” kept his appearance before the gathered press remarkably short, lasting only four minutes.
After his with Russian leader at a US military base near Anchorage, Trump said only that they had had an “extremely productive meeting.”
They had agreed on many things, he said, with only “one big thing” remaining.
“We haven’t done that yet. But there is a very good chance that we will get that done too,” Trump said in an effort to sound friendly. The US president did not elaborate further.
In fact, Trump made no mention of Ukraine by name. Only once did he refer to “We will end the deaths of five thousand people a week. President Putin wants that too,” he said.
Trump also failed to mention that Putin, a former KGB spy, could achieve this goal immediately if he stopped the attacks on Ukraine.
Is Trump buying Russia’s narrative?
The guest from . Without batting an eyelid, he suggested that the “situation” in Ukraine was about Russia’s security.
It may sound strange under the current circumstances, Putin said, but everything that is being done to the “brotherly people of Ukraine is a tragedy for us, a terrible wound. That is why our country is seriously interested in putting an end to it.”
Putin gave the impression that Russia was under threat and had to respond to “provocations.”
This is a reversal of the facts, which he presumably also
Many observers who closely follow the mood swings and erratic pronouncements of the 79-year-old US president believe that Trump picks up on and repeats whatever he last heard.
The question is, therefore, how far the Russian narrative will catch on.
Now ‘up to Zelenskyy’ to reach agreement with Moscow
Last Wednesday, it still seemed as if the US president was on the side of Ukraine, which is under attack.
According to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Donald Trump had “largely” agreed with the West’s demands on Russia.
Merz had organized a virtual preparatory summit from Berlin and formulated five points for the negotiations in Alaska.
These included the demand that Ukraine alone should decide on its territory and the conditions for a ceasefire.
Trump did mention this demand in his brief statement. He said that in the end, “they” would have to decide, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of the major countries.
Trump announced that he would call them immediately to inform them about the talks.
It is unclear whether he will be able to announce any concrete agreements with Russia during these phone calls.
On his way back to Washington, Trump told reporters that it was now up to Zelenskyy to reach an agreement with Moscow.
Zelenskyy has since announced that he will travel to Washington on Monday “to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war,” he wrote on X.
He had had a one-hour telephone conversation with Trump, which was then joined by European heads of state and government.
“We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote.
He continued: “It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America.”
Trump curiously submissive towards Putin
After the meeting, Donald Trump told reporters he had a “fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir.” Before the meeting, he had described the Russian leader as a “smart guy.”
A few weeks ago, however, he also said that Putin talks a lot of nonsense and does not keep his promises, but instead intensifies his attacks on Ukraine after each of their phone calls.
However, during personal meetings with the Russian leader, Trump always seems to hold back.
No criticism, not even subtle, was heard from Donald Trump’s mouth. He is of course far less restrained with other state guests.
Trump followed Putin’s eight minutes of remarks and excursions into Russian-American history at the joint press conference with a kind of frozen smile.
He had already . At that time, the two men came together for their first long summit meeting.
Trump talked himself into a corner and went so far as to say that he trusted the man from the Kremlin more than his own intelligence services.
Putin was not stingy with pleasantries in his remarks, praising the great prospects for cooperation between the US and Russia and politely thanking the Trump administration for its efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine.
However, he immediately added that the “roots of the conflict” must be eliminated. By this he meant Ukraine’s ties to the West, the membership of Eastern European countries in NATO, and NATO troops on its eastern flank.
Next stop: Moscow?
The bottom line is that There was no mention whatsoever of a ceasefire or steps toward one.
Donald Trump had announced that if the Alaska summit was successful, there would be a trilateral meeting between him, Putin and the Ukrainian president.
But there was no mention of that following the talks. “We may see each other again soon,” the US president said vaguely.
The Russian leader then invited the perplexed Trump to Moscow in English. “That could possibly happen,” Trump said, even if he would face some criticism for it.
If Moscow were the next venue for talks it would make it almost impossible for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend.
Before the summit, Trump had threatened Russia with “severe consequences” if Putin did not move toward a ceasefire.
Whether these consequences will now follow — meaning new, a — remains unclear.
However, the US president hinted that “after what happened today, are unlikely.”
Unfortunately, Trump had very little to say about what had happened at all.
This article was written in German.
The post What did the Alaska talks between Trump and Putin achieve? appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
