Reuters World News - No deal on Ukraine at Trump-Putin Alaska summit

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

A highly anticipated Alaska summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Moscow's war in Ukraine, although both leaders described the talks as productive before heading home. Plus, Trump says there are no imminent plans to penalize China for buying Russian oil.  Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠here⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠here⁠. Find the Recommended Read ⁠here⁠. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, no deal for a ceasefire in Ukraine, a diplomatic win for Putin as he's greeted with a red carpet, and a setback for Trump who casts himself as a dealmaker. It's Saturday, August 16th. This is Royce's World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. I'm Tara Oaks in London. with the form of pay with a better conversion of the world.

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until there's a deal. U.S. President Donald Trump saying no agreement with Russia's Vladimir Putin on a ceasefire in Ukraine, despite what he called a very productive meeting. Many points were agreed to. 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.

We didn't get there. The two leaders have said they made progress on unspecified issues, but offered no details and took no questions. Jeff Mason was watching from Washington, D.C. So, Jeff, what happened? Well, indeed. What happened is the question because we didn't get a whole lot of information

from President Putin or from President Trump about what they discussed. When they came out to speak in front of the reporters, they each made statements, but did not take questions. And there were lots of questions to be asked. President Trump said that there, that they had made a lot of progress, but that there's not a deal until there's a deal,

which means there's not a deal. And that is a political disappointment for a president who likes to portray himself as the dealmaker in chief. And Trump has said there was no agreement on one significant point. Do we know anything about what that was? What I think will be interesting

is watching in the coming days, whether or not any more details emerge after the president speaks to his NATO allies and to Zelensky. But for now, President Putin and President Trump did not give any details about what the sticking points were or whether there's even a willingness on President Putin's side to move towards a ceasefire. President Trump used positive language about it, saying there had been progress, and President Putin used very, very flattering language about Trump, which is a technique that a lot of foreign leaders use now with the U.S. president. But neither of them came out and said, this is what's left to do and we're going to get it done. Or these are the major sticking points. This is why we didn't reach a deal.

And this summit was arranged just a few days ago with the shadow of these possible U.S. sanctions on Russia looming. Do we know anything at this stage about what might happen to that threat of sanctions? We don't know what will happen, but what I think we can say is the threat of sanctions certainly took a backseat as soon as this summit was put together. And I would say that the positive language that the president used would suggest that he's not going to rush to implement sanctions soon. But he didn't say. But I don't think anyone would look at that and conclude that Trump was expressing frustration. He wasn't. And it was the frustration that led him to suggest that sanctions were imminent in the last couple of weeks.

It was an anti-climatic end to the closely watched summit. In stark contrast to the pomp and circumstance with which it began, Putin had arrived to a red carpet and a warm embrace with Trump. When they were speaking to the press, invited Trump to Moscow. Thank you very much, Vladimir. Next time in Moscow. Oh, that's an interesting one. I don't know, no, no, no.

I'll get a little heat on that one, but I can see it possibly happening. Mark Trevelyan is our breaking news lead writer for Russia. So, Mark, this is fundamentally a win for Putin, right? Yes, it is a win for Putin. If we think about where we were only about 10 days ago, Putin was facing a sanctions deadline from Trump. Instead of that, he invited him to the United States, and he literally rolled out the red carpet

for him. We saw a warm handshake, friendly body language between the two of them. We saw Putin riding in Trump's limousine. So all of that was really signifying that Russia, US relations, are starting to get back on track after what Putin himself in his comments afterwards said had been a very rocky period in US relations. So on the ground, what does this mean for the continuation of the war? Again, Trump had said he wanted a ceasefire, and he said he wouldn't be happy if he didn't get a ceasefire today. And there is no ceasefire. The logical outcome, then, is Russia will continue with this war.

And it was notable to me that Putin used the language that he has used time and time again about the Ukraine war. There was no sign of any shift there. He repeated the mantra about having to address the root causes that had led to the conflict, address Russia's legitimate concerns, as he put it, and he warned that Europe and the Ukrainians shouldn't disrupt the process with what he called provocation or intrigues. So these were very assertive comments by Putin, no softening of his position in any way, and therefore the logic of that is that Russia will carry on pursuing what it calls, still calls its special military operation in Ukraine until it achieves its objectives there, which is what it's been saying for a very long time.

On the streets of Kiev, residents were dismayed the meeting even took place, with a 25-year-old model Hannah Kuterenko saying there should have been no red carpet for Putin. Adding that Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, should take part in any peace talks. Trump has suggested a meeting would now be set up, between Putin and Zelensky, which he might also attend, without giving further details. Zelensky has ruled out formally handing Moscow any territory and is also seeking a security guarantee backed by the US. President Trump says he doesn't immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, but may have to in two or three weeks.

China and India are the top two buyers of Russian oil. Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods last week for continued Russian oil imports. He was asked by Fox News' Sean Hannity if he was now considering such action against Beijing after he and Putin failed to produce an agreement to resolve or cause the war in Ukraine. Well, because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that. Now, I may have to think about it into weeks or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about that. have to think about that right now. I think the, you know, the meeting went very well. It's a historic day.

And for today, we have a recommended listen for you. It's the latest episode of our long-form on assignment podcast. This week's is all about AI and a flirty meta chatbot who invited a retired man to meet. He never made it home. It's available to listen to now wherever you get your podcasts. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player, and if you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters, seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.