After talks with President Trump, Putin has hinted a deal is immiment, as ITV News US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will meet Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, after a US-Russia summit failed to result in a deal to end the war.
On Friday, Trump and Putin greeted one another on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska for talks, but no deal on Ukraine was made.
The US president has since spoken to Zelenskyy, as well as Starmer and other European leaders, Downing Street confirmed.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy described his conversation with Trump as “long and substantive”.
On Friday, Trump and Putin spoke for around two and a half hours before delivering a joint news conference.
Standing next to Putin, Trump said: “We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to.
“And there are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”
However, Trump also admitted: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
Putin claimed they had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress.” The meeting marked the Russian president’s first time on US soil in more than a decade.
The US President pledged he would bring about an end to the conflict, which began after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, on his first day in the White House.
Despite not reaching any major breakthrough, Trump ended his remarks by thanking Putin and saying, “we’ll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon”.
When Putin smiled and offered, “next time in Moscow,” Trump said “that’s an interesting one” and said he might face criticism but “I could see it possibly happening”.
The Russian president also praised the talks in the press conference, describing them as a “reference point” from which the conflict could be resolved.
He went on to say he hoped they would mark the start of restoring “businesslike, pragmatic relations” between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said British personnel are ready to arrive in Ukraine just “days” after Moscow and Kyiv agree to put fighting on hold.
The UK Government earlier this summer backed international efforts to set up a “Multinational Force Ukraine”, a military plan to bolster Ukraine’s defences once the conflict eases, in a bid to ward off future Russian aggression.
“Planning has continued on an enduring basis to ensure that a force can deploy in the days following the cessation of hostilities,” an MoD spokesperson said.
It follows stern remarks from Trump last month, where he revealed a deadline for Russia to negotiate a ceasefire or face heavy tariffs, following his “disappointment” in Putin.
At the beginning of August, Trump announced the repositioning of US nuclear submarines over what he described as “inflammatory” remarks by the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev.
The war has caused heavy losses on both sides and drained resources.
Ukraine has held on far longer than some initially expected since the February 2022 invasion, but it is straining to hold off Russia’s much larger army.
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