Trump, Putin announce breakthrough on Ukraine after three hours of talks

New York: Presidents Donald Trump of the US and Vladimir Putin of Russia announced a breakthrough after three hours of talks on Ukraine in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.

“I would like to hope that the agreement that we’ve reached together will help us bring closer that goal (of finding a solution) and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine,” Trump said.

“I believe we had a very productive meeting,” Trump said.

“There were many, many points that we (President Putin and I) agreed on.”

A settlement would be important for India as it could render moot the 25 per cent punitive tariff that Trump has threatened for buying Russian oil.

Neither leader gave any details of the agreement or say if there was going to be ceasefire.

Trump said cryptically there were “a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway”.

“One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” he added.

“I will call up NATO, the various people that I think are appropriate, and, of course, call up President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting,” he said.

Going into the summit, Trump said that he will not be negotiating on behalf of Ukraine, and it was up to Zelensky to make a deal.

He said at the news conference, “So there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

The two Presidents did not take questions from reporters.

Putin said, “We have to amend the situation to move on from confrontation to dialogue.”

“However much strange it may sound in these conditions, we (Russia and Ukraine) have the same roots and everything that’s happening is a tragedy for us and a terrible wound,” he said.

“Therefore, the country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it.”

Instead of the planned three phases of the summit starting with a one-on-one meeting, they went straight into the second phase with Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousoy, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov participating.

It did not appear that the third phase of a luncheon meeting with more officials was taking place.

Trump welcomed Putin on a red carpet and they talked in a friendly manner as they entered a limousine and continued their conversation.

–IANS