Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is headed to the White House on Monday after being left out of President Donald Trump’s nearly three-hour meeting with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, in Alaska on Friday. Trump and Putin met to discuss a potential ceasefire deal in Ukraine—but left without such an agreement.
The US-Russian summit in Anchorage between the two leaders featured Trump rolling out a literal red carpet welcome for Putin, clapping as he arrived, and taking several friendly photo-ops together—a contrast from other world leaders who are more icy with the Russian head of state.
Putin accepted Trump’s invitation to ride in the back of the armored presidential Cadillac limousine, known as “The Beast,” from the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to the meeting location before sitting down with aides for both men. Trump brought Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff into the room with him.
Trump has already changed course from the plan he previously said he would pursue to apply pressure to Putin to end his offensive in Ukraine.
Following the meeting, as The New York Times reports, “Trump on Saturday split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit” and is now “backing Mr. Putin’s plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding territory it controls to Russia, instead of the urgent ceasefire Mr. Trump had said he wanted before the meeting.”
Much of Europe quickly moved to back Ukraine following Trump’s post-summit strategy shift, though, the Times’ explained, “the leaders treaded carefully to not openly contradict Mr. Trump as he aligned himself with Russia’s vision of ending the war.”
As The Associated Press reported on late Friday, “The U.S. president had offered Putin both a carrot and a stick, issuing threats of punishing economic sanctions on Russia while also extending a warm welcome at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, but he appeared to walk away without any concrete progress on ending the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.”
Since the onset of the war, according to reporting from the Times in June, “Nearly one million Russian troops have been killed or wounded,” and “close to 400,000 Ukrainian troops have also been killed or wounded.”
Following Putin and Trump’s meeting, the US president posted on his social media platform Truth Social about the summit, calling it a “great and very successful day in Alaska!”
Trump wrote that he had spoken with Zelensky and other European leaders and claimed that “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
Zelensky confirmed the Monday meeting on X, writing, “I am grateful for the invitation.”
