Trump-Putin meeting live updates: US president hails ‘successful’ meeting despite no deal as Zelensky heads to Washington

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement on Saturday that Russia has no intention to end its war in Ukraine “anytime soon” but the United States holds the power to force serious negotiations.

“President (Donald) Trump’s resolve to get a peace deal is vital. Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments,” Kallas said in a statement.

“The U.S. holds the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. The EU will work with Ukraine and the U.S.”

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday said U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin discussed security guarantees for Ukraine during their summit a day earlier in Alaska.

“The crucial point remains security guarantees to prevent new Russian invasions, and this is the aspect where the most interesting developments were recorded in Anchorage,” Meloni said in a statement, her second about the summit.

Meloni said Trump had highlighted an earlier Italian proposal for security guarantees for Ukraine “inspired by NATO’s Article 5.”

“The starting point of the proposal is the definition of a collective security clause that would allow Ukraine to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the USA, ready to take action in case it is attacked again,” said Meloni.

U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders discussed possible security guarantees for Ukraine outside NATO but similar to the Alliance’s “Article 5” during their call on Saturday, two people familiar with the matter said.

One of the people, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that European leaders were seeking clarity on what kind of U.S. role this would involve, but that there were no details yet.

NATO regards any attack launched on one of its 32 members as an attack on all under its Article 5 clause.

On the battlefield, Russia’s defence ministry have said that its forces had taken Kolodyazi village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, alongside Vorone village in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region.

Ukrainian officials earlier said Russia had launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile at Ukrainian territory overnight.

By proposing to abandon the ceasefire in favour of a fast peace agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump is taking Russian President Vladimir Putin’s position, a senior Ukrainian parliamentarian said on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, Trump has taken Putin’s position, and this was Putin’s demand,” Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Reuters.

“In Putin’s view, a peace agreement means several dangerous things – Ukraine not joining NATO, his absurd demands for denazification and demilitarisation, the Russian language and the Russian church,” he said.

A group of European leaders including Sir Keir Starmer have released a joint statement after their call with Donald Trump, to debrief them on his meeting with Vladimir Putin.

The leaders, which included German chancellor Friedrich Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron, said they “welcomed President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace”.

They called for Zelensky’s involvement in future meetings, with support from European allies.

The statement read: “We welcome President Trump’s statement that the US is prepared to give security guarantees.

“The Coalition of the Willing is ready to play an active role. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries.

“Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and NATO. It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.

“Our support to Ukraine will continue. We are determined to do more to keep Ukraine strong in order to achieve an end to the fighting and a just and lasting peace.”

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has released a statement praising Trump’s efforts to end the “illegal” war in Ukraine, stating: “His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.”

He said: “While progress has been made, the next step must be further talks involving President Zelenskyy. The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without him.

“This morning, I spoke to President Zelenskyy, President Trump and other European partners, and we all stand ready to support this next phase.

“I welcome the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.

“This is important progress and will be crucial in deterring Putin from coming back for more.

“In the meantime, until he stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions, which have already had a punishing impact on the Russian economy and its people. Our unwavering support for Ukraine will continue as long as it takes.”

The highly-anticipated meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had been hailed as an essential and crucial step in forging a path towards peace in wartorn Ukraine.

In Moscow, the meeting has been praised as a success, while in the West, it has left more questions than answers.

Here are the key takeaways from the summit:

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday Ukraine should agree a deal to end the war with Russia because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not”, after holding a summit with President Vladimir Putin that failed to yield a ceasefire.

In a major shift, Trump also said he had agreed with Putin that the best way to end the war was to go straight to a peace settlement – not via a ceasefire, as Ukraine and its European allies, until now with U.S. support, have been demanding.

n a post-summit interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump signaled that he and Putin had discussed potential land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine.

“I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on,” Trump said.

“I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” he said, adding: “Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.”

When asked by Hannity what he would advise Zelensky, Trump said: “Gotta make a deal.”

“Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not. They’re great soldiers,” he added.