It was a much-hyped meeting between two global leaders as there were hopes that the Russia-Ukraine war would finally come to an end. However, US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin failed to arrive at a peace deal for the conflict that has been going on for over 3 years now.

Riding in presidential limousine ‘The Beast’ with Trump, Putin received a red carpet welcome. During their meeting, the American and Russian leaders were joined by two of their top aides – Secretary of State and national security adviser Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff for Trump and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and national security adviser Yuri Ushakov for Putin.

Trump and Putin’s Alaska talks went on for about 2.5 hours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, however, they yielded no conclusive result on Russia-Ukraine ceasefire. Both the leaders even appeared before reporters but took no questions.

Trump-Putin Meeting: How productive were the talks?

The US President put himself that their talks were productive, but added that there is no deal without a deal. Addressing the reporters, the first to talk was Russian President Putin who appreciated the historical relationship between the US, Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Putin underscored that the US and Russia share values, a standard talking point for Russian officials when trying to woo Trump and his aides. With this, he stressed how Trump has often stated that the Ukraine war wouldn’t have happened had he won the 2020 election. “I think that would have been the case,” the Russian leader said.

In his address to the media, the US President shared that he and Putin had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to, there are just a very few that are left. “We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” Trump added. Even as they hoped to achieve progress, Trump conceded that “we haven’t quite got there”.

The US President added he would have discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders about next steps. Trump also underlined that Putin had made some significant progress toward the goal of ending the conflict. “So, there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

How Putin won despite no deal on Russia-Ukraine conflict?

Before the summit, US President Trump had stated that there was a 25% chance that the talks would fail and that it was meant to be a “feel-out meeting”. While there might not have been any deal on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump and Putin’s Alaska summit did seem to have done a good PR for the Russian leader.

Putin made his first visit to the US for the first time in 10 years, a move that is being seen as a sign that Moscow was no longer a pariah on the global stage. From riding in ‘The Beast’ alongside Trump to engaging in peace talks, Putin seems to have gained more cachet than his host.

Going first among the two to speak to the reporters, Putin got a change to set the tone of the brief, and he even praised Trump for the “friendly” tone of the talks. He noted that Moscow and Washington should “turn the page,” with relations having sunk to the lowest point since the Cold War.

A similar view has been echoed by former US national security adviser John Bolton, who said that Putin “clearly won” the Alaska summit with President Donald Trump, even though Trump “did not lose”. Speaking on CNN, Bolton said Trump “didn’t come away with anything, except more meetings,” while Putin “has gone a long way to reestablishing the relationship, which I always believed was his key goal.”