U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after concluding their talks in Anchorage, Alaska, the United States, on Aug. 15, 2025.The talks, held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in the city of Anchorage, lasted about three hours. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
ANCHORAGE, the United States, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he had a "very productive meeting" with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, but the summit ended without a deal on the Ukraine crisis.
The two presidents held a joint press conference after concluding their talks at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Trump said they agreed on "many points," adding that the two sides made some headway, though no deal was reached.
Putin said he agreed that the security of Ukraine should be ensured, and an agreement he reached with Trump would pave the way toward peace in Ukraine.
Standing side by side on stage for just over 10 minutes, both leaders indicated that progress had been made during their face-to-face talks, but no concrete deal was produced.
Putin said the negotiations took place in a "constructive atmosphere of mutual respect" and that a personal meeting between the heads of state had been "long overdue."
"Everything that's happening is a tragedy for us and a terrible wound," and Russia is sincerely interested in ending it, said Putin.
He stressed that efforts must address the "primary causes" of the conflict and warned Ukraine and European countries not to "throw a wrench in the works."
Putin expressed his hope that the meeting would be a "starting point" not only for the resolution of the Ukrainian issue, but also for helping bring back "business-like" and "pragmatic" relations between Russia and the United States.
He said Russian-U.S. cooperation in investment and business has tremendous potential as the two countries can offer each other so much in trade, digital, high-tech and space exploration.
"We see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible in our international context," he said.
Trump described the talks as "extremely productive" and said "great progress" had been made.
"Many points" were agreed upon, Trump noted, adding there is "a very good chance of getting there."
Trump said he will call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders soon.
Zelensky said on Friday he hopes the Trump-Putin meeting will pave the way for trilateral talks.
The meeting lasted about three hours and marked the first face-to-face encounter between the presidents of the two countries since 2021.
The two leaders did not take questions from reporters at the press conference. ■