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Trump reverses on the need for a ceasefire before a potential peace deal ending the war in Ukraine

Trump reverses on the need for a ceasefire before a potential peace deal ending the war in Ukraine
Mm. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, our negotiations have been held in *** constructive atmosphere of mutual respect. We have very thorough negotiations, quite useful. I would like to thank once again my American counterpart for the proposal to travel out here to Alaska. It only makes sense that we. Map here because our countries, those separated by the oceans, are close neighbors. So when we've met when I came out of the plane and I've said, Good afternoon dear neighbor, very good to see you in good health and to see you alive. I think that is very neighborly. Um And I think that's some kind words that we can say to each other. We're separated by the Strait of Being though there are two islands only between the Russian island and the US island. They're only 4 kilometers apart. We're close neighbors and it's *** fact. It's also important that Alaska has to do with our common heritage, common history between Russia and the US, and many positive events have to do with that territory. Still, there is tremendous cultural. Heritage back from the Russian America, for example, Orthodox churches and *** lot of, uh, more than 700 geographical names of Russian origin during the Second World War. It was here in Alaska that was the origin of the legendary air bridge for the supply of military aircraft and other equipment under the land lease program. It was *** dangerous and treacherous route over the vast emptiness of ice. However, the pilot. Of both countries did everything to bring close to the victory. They risked their lives and they gave it all for the common victory. I was just in in the city of Magadan in Russia and there is *** memorial there dedicated to the Russian and the US pilots, and there are two flags, the US flag and the Russian flag, and I know that here as well there is such *** memorial. There is *** military burial place several kilometers away from here. The Soviet pilots are buried there. Who died during that dangerous mission. We're thankful to the citizens and the government of the US for carefully taking care of their memory. I think that's very worthy and noble. We'll always remember other historical examples when our countries defeated common enemies together in the spirit of battle camaraderie and ship that supported each other and facilitated each other. I'm sure that this heritage will help us rebuild and foster mutually beneficial and equal ties. At this stage, even during the hardest there have been summits between Russia and the US for 4 years, and that's *** long time. This time it was very hard for bilateral relations, and let's be frank, they're falling to the lowest point since the Cold War. I think that's not benefiting our countries and the world. Later we had to amend the situation to move on from the confrontation to dialogue and in this case *** personal meeting between the heads of state has been long overdue naturally under the condition of serious and painstaking work. This work has been done in general me and President Trump have very good direct contact. We've spoken multiple times. We spoke frankly on the phone and um. Special envoy of the president Mr. traveled out to Russia several times our uh advisers and heads of foreign ministries kept in touch all the time, and we know fully well that one of the central issues was the situation around Ukraine. We see the strive of the administration and President Trump personally to help facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict and his strive to get to the crux of the matter to understand. is precious as I've said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with the fundal threats to our security. Moreover, we've always considered the Ukrainian nation, and I've said it multiple times *** brotherly nation however strange it may sound in these conditions. We have the same roots and everything that's happening is *** tragedy for us and terrible wound. Therefore, the country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it the same time. We're convinced that in order to to make settlement lasting *** long term we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict and we've said it multiple times to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate *** just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole and I agree with President Trump as he has said today that naturally the security of Ukraine should be. Insured as well, naturally we're prepared to work on that. I would like to hope that the agreement that we've reached together will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine. We expect that Kiev and European capitals will pursue that constructively and that they won't go raning works. They will not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings or to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress. Uh, incidentally when the new administration came to power, bilateral trade started to grow. It's, it's still very symbolic. Still we have uh *** growth of 20% as I've said, we have *** lot of dimensions for joint work. It is clear that. The US and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential. Russia and the US can offer each other so much in trade, digital high tech, and in space exploration. We see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible. And our international contexts, for example, between the far east of Russia and the West coast of the US overall it's very important for our countries to turn the page to go back to cooperation. It is symbolic that not far away from here, the border between Russia and the US there was *** so called international date line. I think you can step over literally from yesterday into tomorrow and I hope that's. Succeed in that in political sphere. I would like to thank President Trump for our joint work for the well wishing and trustworthy tone of our conversation. It's important that both sides are result oriented and we see that the president of the US has *** very clear idea of what what he would like to achieve. He sincerely cares about the prosperity of his nation. Still, he understands that Russia has its own national interests. That today's agreements will be the starting point not only for the solution of the Ukrainian issue but also will help us bring back businesslike and pragmatic relations between Russia and the US and in the end I would like to add one more thing I'd like to remind you that in 2022 during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleagues that it should not the situation should not be. Brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities and I said it quite directly back then that it's *** big mistake today when President Trump saying that if he was the president. Then there will be no more and I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so I can confirm that. I think that overall me and President Trump have built *** very good business like *** trustworthy contact and have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come and the sooner the better to the end of the conflict in Ukraine. Thank you, thank you. Well thank you very much, Mr. President. It was very profound and I will say that I believe we had *** very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them I would say *** couple of big ones that we haven't quite got there, but we've made some headway. So there's no deal until there's *** deal. I will call up NATO in *** little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I'll of course call up President Zelinsky and tell him about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them. They're gonna have to agree with what Marco and Steve and some of the great people from the Trump administration who've come here, Scott. John Ratcliffe, thank you very much, but we have some of our really great leaders. They've been doing *** phenomenal job. We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think you know, everybody wants to deal with us. We've become the hottest country anywhere in the world in *** very short period of time, and we look forward to that. We look forward to dealing. We're gonna try and get this over with. We, we really made some great progress. Today I've always had *** fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. We had many, many tough meetings, good meetings. We were interfered with by the Russia Russia Russia hoax that made it *** little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he's probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He's he's seen it all. But we had to put up with the Russia Russia Russia hoax. He knew it was *** hoax and I knew it was *** hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as *** country in terms of the business and all of the things that we'd like to have dealt with, but we'll have *** good chance when this is over. So just to put it very quickly, I'm going to start making *** few phone calls and tell them what happened, but we had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to and there are. Just *** very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have *** very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have *** very good chance of getting there. I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team. Whose faces who I know in many cases, otherwise, other than that whose whose faces I get to see you all the time in the newspapers you're very you're almost as famous as the boss, but, uh, especially this one right over here, but we had some good meetings over the years, right, good productive meetings over the years, and we hope to have that in the future, but let's do the most productive one right now. We're going to stop. Really 567, 1000 thousands of people *** week from being killed and President Putin wants to see that as much as I do. So, uh, again, Mr. President, I'd like to thank you very much and we'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much Vladimir. Next time in Moscow. Oh, that's an interesting one. I don't know, I'll get *** little heat on that one, but I, uh, I could see it possibly happening. Thank you very much, Vladimir, and thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think so. I Yeah
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Updated: 5:24 PM CDT Aug 16, 2025
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Trump reverses on the need for a ceasefire before a potential peace deal ending the war in Ukraine
AP logo
Updated: 5:24 PM CDT Aug 16, 2025
Editorial Standards
U.S. President Donald Trump reversed course in the wake of his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to say an overall peace agreement — not the ceasefire that he has long championed — is the next step in ending the 3 1/2-year war in Ukraine.See the brief press conference from after the summit in the video aboveIn talks with European allies after Friday's summit in Alaska, Trump said Putin reiterated that he wants the key Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas. But Putin appeared open to the possibility of halting the stalemate in two other regions, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, with a freeze along the front lines.That is according to European officials familiar with the calls who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks at a U.S. military base between the American and Russian presidents. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously rejected giving up the territory in the Donbas.The aftermath of the summit offered little clarity about the next steps, other than Trump's commitment for more meetings, including with Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday. It was unclear among those briefed on the exchanges whether Trump saw Putin's desire for the Donbas as acceptable, with Trump's blunt but elliptical way of speaking only adding to a sense of confusion.The White House had yet to provide a public summary of the calls as Trump golfed on Saturday with his special envoy Steve Witkoff and Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his Virginia golf club. The most transparent takeaway was Trump's abrupt reversal on a ceasefire, raising questions of how peace talks can proceed if attacks continue.Trump's abandoning a ceasefire as a requirement for further negotiations aligns him with a position held by Putin. The Russian leader has long said Moscow is not interested in a temporary truce and is seeking a long-term settlement that takes the Kremlin's interests into account.Trump says he is focused on a peace accord, not a ceasefireAfter the calls with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump said Saturday on social media 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."German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told ZDF television that Trump said "Russia seems to be prepared to conduct the negotiations based on the so-called line of contact and not the administrative boundaries." It was unclear from the comments how issues pertaining to the Donbas had been resolved.Zelenskyy has previously refused to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls. He says that would be unconstitutional and the territory could be used as a staging ground for later Russian attacks.In a statement after the Trump call, major European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire, saying they "welcomed President Trump's efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia's war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace."Putin's view on his summit with TrumpPutin on Saturday described his talks with Trump as "very frank.""We, of course, respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a speedy end to military actions," he said at the follow-up meeting at the Kremlin, a clip of which was posted to the Kremlin's Telegram channel. "We would like to move to resolving all issues by peaceful means."Putin has "broken out of international isolation" and "wasn't in the least challenged" by Trump, who also ignored an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court, said Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. But the U.S. isn't a member of the court and thus doesn't have an obligation to arrest him.Zelenskyy gears up for a White House meetingZelenskyy, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he had a "long and substantive" conversation with Trump early Saturday and that they would "discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war" on Monday.It will be Zelenskyy's first visit to the United States since Trump berated him publicly for being "disrespectful" during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting in February.Trump confirmed the White House meeting and said that "if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin."Zelenskyy reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not at the summit, "to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America.""We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine's security," he said.The Ukrainian leader did not elaborate, but he has previously said European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop.In an apparent effort to bolster Zelenskyy's hand before the White House meeting, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany will co-host a video call Sunday of "coalition of the willing" nations that could help monitor and uphold any deal to end fighting, French President Emmanuel Macron's office said.Europeans urge security guarantees for UkraineThe French, German, Italian, British, Finnish, Polish and European Union leaders said "Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees," and they welcomed U.S. readiness to provide them."It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory," their statement said. "International borders must not be changed by force."During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus might be on Zelenskyy "to get it done," but that there also would be some involvement from European nations.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said "the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon," noting that Moscow launched new attacks on Ukraine even as the delegations met."Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing," she said.Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their gains, capturing the most territory since the opening stages of the war.Questions on a trilateral meetingZelenskyy voiced support for Trump's proposal for a meeting with the U.S. and Russia. He said that "key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this."But Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told Russian state television Saturday that a possible three-way meeting "has not been touched upon yet" in U.S.-Russia discussions.Zelenskyy wrote on X that he told Trump "sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war."Fiona Hill, Trump's former senior adviser on Russia, told The Associated Press that the U.S. president has met his match because "Putin is a much bigger bully than Trump is.""He's run out of his persuasive powers with Putin," said Hill, adding that Trump has "plenty" of coercive powers to use against the Russian leader but "he doesn't want to use them.""Ukrainians want peace for sure, and Putin wants pieces of Ukraine," she said. "Very large pieces."___Leicester reported from Paris and Burrows from London. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Elise Morton in London and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

U.S. President Donald Trump reversed course in the wake of his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to say an overall peace agreement — not the ceasefire that he has long championed — is the next step in ending the 3 1/2-year war in Ukraine.

See the brief press conference from after the summit in the video above

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In talks with European allies after Friday's summit in Alaska, Trump said Putin reiterated that he wants the key Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas. But Putin appeared open to the possibility of halting the stalemate in two other regions, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, with a freeze along the front lines.

That is according to European officials familiar with the calls who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks at a U.S. military base between the American and Russian presidents. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously rejected giving up the territory in the Donbas.

The aftermath of the summit offered little clarity about the next steps, other than Trump's commitment for more meetings, including with Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday. It was unclear among those briefed on the exchanges whether Trump saw Putin's desire for the Donbas as acceptable, with Trump's blunt but elliptical way of speaking only adding to a sense of confusion.

The White House had yet to provide a public summary of the calls as Trump golfed on Saturday with his special envoy Steve Witkoff and Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his Virginia golf club. The most transparent takeaway was Trump's abrupt reversal on a ceasefire, raising questions of how peace talks can proceed if attacks continue.

Trump's abandoning a ceasefire as a requirement for further negotiations aligns him with a position held by Putin. The Russian leader has long said Moscow is not interested in a temporary truce and is seeking a long-term settlement that takes the Kremlin's interests into account.

Trump says he is focused on a peace accord, not a ceasefire

After the calls with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump said Saturday on social media 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."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told ZDF television that Trump said "Russia seems to be prepared to conduct the negotiations based on the so-called line of contact and not the administrative boundaries." It was unclear from the comments how issues pertaining to the Donbas had been resolved.

Zelenskyy has previously refused to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls. He says that would be unconstitutional and the territory could be used as a staging ground for later Russian attacks.

In a statement after the Trump call, major European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire, saying they "welcomed President Trump's efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia's war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace."

Putin's view on his summit with Trump

Putin on Saturday described his talks with Trump as "very frank."

"We, of course, respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a speedy end to military actions," he said at the follow-up meeting at the Kremlin, a clip of which was posted to the Kremlin's Telegram channel. "We would like to move to resolving all issues by peaceful means."

Putin has "broken out of international isolation" and "wasn't in the least challenged" by Trump, who also ignored an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court, said Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. But the U.S. isn't a member of the court and thus doesn't have an obligation to arrest him.

Zelenskyy gears up for a White House meeting

Zelenskyy, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he had a "long and substantive" conversation with Trump early Saturday and that they would "discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war" on Monday.

It will be Zelenskyy's first visit to the United States since Trump berated him publicly for being "disrespectful" during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting in February.

Trump confirmed the White House meeting and said that "if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin."

Zelenskyy reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not at the summit, "to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America."

"We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine's security," he said.

The Ukrainian leader did not elaborate, but he has previously said European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop.

In an apparent effort to bolster Zelenskyy's hand before the White House meeting, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany will co-host a video call Sunday of "coalition of the willing" nations that could help monitor and uphold any deal to end fighting, French President Emmanuel Macron's office said.

Europeans urge security guarantees for Ukraine

The French, German, Italian, British, Finnish, Polish and European Union leaders said "Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees," and they welcomed U.S. readiness to provide them.

"It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory," their statement said. "International borders must not be changed by force."

During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus might be on Zelenskyy "to get it done," but that there also would be some involvement from European nations.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said "the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon," noting that Moscow launched new attacks on Ukraine even as the delegations met.

"Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing," she said.

Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their gains, capturing the most territory since the opening stages of the war.

Questions on a trilateral meeting

Zelenskyy voiced support for Trump's proposal for a meeting with the U.S. and Russia. He said that "key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this."

But Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told Russian state television Saturday that a possible three-way meeting "has not been touched upon yet" in U.S.-Russia discussions.

Zelenskyy wrote on X that he told Trump "sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war."

Fiona Hill, Trump's former senior adviser on Russia, told The Associated Press that the U.S. president has met his match because "Putin is a much bigger bully than Trump is."

"He's run out of his persuasive powers with Putin," said Hill, adding that Trump has "plenty" of coercive powers to use against the Russian leader but "he doesn't want to use them."

"Ukrainians want peace for sure, and Putin wants pieces of Ukraine," she said. "Very large pieces."

___

Leicester reported from Paris and Burrows from London. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Elise Morton in London and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.


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