The historic 170-minute summit without an agreement: What is known about the meeting between Putin and Trump

With fighter jets, a red carpet, and a hopeful slogan “In Search of Peace” pinned to the wall, President Donald Trump welcomed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to a summit in Alaska on Friday, the results of which remained entirely unclear after it ended abruptly.

After a nearly three-hour meeting, the two men came out to declare progress. But they left their planned press conference without explaining exactly what they had achieved.

One thing was clear: No agreement was reached. And the ceasefire that Trump said he wanted to implement by the end of the summit was far from becoming reality, as he increasingly placed the burden on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “make a deal.”

“There were many, many points we agreed on most of them, I’d say,” Trump said at the press conference, speaking after Putin.

“Some important points we haven’t resolved yet, but we’ve made some progress.”

“There is no deal until there is a deal,” Trump declared.

He and Putin walked off the stage without taking questions.

It was an inconclusive ending to a summit that despite all its unknowns seemed to decisively welcome Putin back into diplomatic ranks.

Yet, despite all the pomp and protocol, the signs of how difficult Trump’s task would be were clear from the moment the meeting began.

Just as the presidents greeted each other on the runway of Elmendorf Air Base, air raid alerts went off in Ukraine for incoming Russian drones and fighter jets a sign of Putin’s intent to press on with his war, even as Trump adorned him with gestures of respect on American soil.

Here are some of the key takeaways from Friday’s summit in Anchorage:

Both Trump and Putin offered a vague description of a meeting that lasted for hours.

“We had an extremely productive meeting and agreed on many points,” Trump told reporters. “Only a few remain. Some are not that important. One is probably the most important, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

In an interview immediately after the summit, Trump was asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity about potential territorial concessions that would give Russia land it did not previously have, as well as possible U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine.

“Well, I think those are points that we negotiated and those are points we mostly agreed on,” Trump said without giving details.

He stressed that Ukraine “has to agree to this.” Asked what his advice for Zelensky was, Trump replied: “A deal has to be made.”

Ahead of the talks, it was always clearer what an unsuccessful outcome would look like than a successful one. Trump had vowed to “walk away” if he didn’t like what Putin was saying, threatened to downgrade the joint press conference to a solo appearance, and said “serious” consequences would come for Moscow if the war did not end.

But as he flew into Anchorage, Trump said he didn’t know what success would look like suggesting he would recognize it when he saw it.

It turns out success was just as hard to identify after the summit as it was when it began.

Trump says he will be present at a possible Putin-Zelensky meeting

In his Fox interview, Trump said that both Putin and Zelensky want him at a possible second meeting which he had said before the summit would be his ultimate goal.

“They both want me there, and I’ll be there,” he told Hannity.

Trump said nothing about the prospect of a trilateral meeting at the press conference, only hinting that he would call “various people I think are appropriate” including Zelensky to update them on the talks.

But the only future meeting mentioned during Trump and Putin’s joint appearance was a possible follow-up with the Russian leader.

“We’ll be talking to you very soon and maybe we’ll see each other again very soon,” Trump said.

“Next time in Moscow,” Putin replied in English a suggestion that seemed to exclude Zelensky from the discussion.

Immediately upon his arrival in the U.S., Putin’s smile, as he looked out the window of Trump’s limousine, said it all: after years of Western isolation, he was back in the world’s most powerful nation.

It had been 10 years since Putin was last in America and several more since he was welcomed there for a major presidential summit. After invading Ukraine in 2022, the Russian leader became a pariah to many leaders, unwelcome in most Western countries, and even threatened with an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. (Alaska was a desirable venue for the summit partly because the U.S. is not a member of the ICC.)

But Putin’s isolation ended the moment his plane landed in Anchorage. With a red-carpet welcome, a flyover by fighter jets, and applause from the U.S. president himself, Trump’s message was clear: Putin was back from the cold. Their smiling handshake was hailed on Russian state television as a “historic handshake.”

Even though Putin is still unwelcome in much of Europe, Trump’s decision to host him as the leader of the world’s largest economy and most powerful military undermined diplomatic efforts to sideline him more than any other leader could.

That became even clearer when Putin climbed into Trump’s armored vehicle, an unusual gesture that seemed to capture in a single moment the Russian leader’s return to global diplomacy. Even without major breakthroughs, for him this was a victory.

Aides were added to what had been billed as a one-on-one meeting.

The surprise came just as Trump was disembarking: he would no longer meet with Putin strictly one-on-one, with only their interpreters present. Instead, two aides would join each leader in their bilateral talks.

This was a departure from earlier in the week, when the White House said the summit would include a true face-to-face component. A U.S. official said it was a late change but gave no explanation as to why the format was altered.

Trump’s face-to-face meetings with Putin during his first term had been shrouded in mystery. With only an interpreter in the room, it was often unclear what was actually discussed. Aides sometimes struggled to determine whether the two men had reached any agreements. After one such meeting in Germany, Trump even asked his interpreter to destroy his notes.

Adding two aides to Friday’s session Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff may allow for greater clarity in the days ahead, especially if Russia offers an account of events that differs from the U.S. perspective.

Still, there was one moment that only Trump and Putin will ever be able to recount: their brief ride together in the presidential limousine from the airstrip to the meeting room. No one else was in the car with them besides Secret Service agents no advisers, no interpreters.

That leaves the content of their short conversation known only to them.

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