Overview

• Presidents Trump and Putin held roughly three hours of face-to-face talks at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson but left without a ceasefire or binding agreement.
• Both leaders described the discussions as productive and said they reached an understanding while declining to provide specifics or take press questions.
• The White House signaled plans for follow-up consultations with President Zelenskyy and NATO and European leaders to bring Ukraine into future negotiations.
• Ukrainian officials and many Western allies expressed alarm at being excluded from the bilateral talks and warned that sidelining Kyiv risks undercutting Ukraine’s sovereignty.
• Staged ceremonial optics—including a red-carpet reception and a limousine ride for Putin—drew criticism that the summit bestowed diplomatic legitimacy on Moscow despite an active ICC arrest warrant.