The summit between the presidents of the United States and Russia concluded Friday afternoon in Alaska with no agreements announced on peace in Ukraine. However, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin said there had been good progress while speaking during a brief press conference.

Trump said the more than three-hour meeting with Putin and his delegation at the Elmendorf-Richardson base was "extremely productive," but "we're not there" at the finish line. The US president had greeted the Russian leader with a red carpet and some applause, in striking and unusual images given the context of the meeting, although not entirely surprising. "Many points were agreed upon. There are just a few that remain (unresolved). Some are not significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a good chance of getting there. We are not there, but we have a good chance of getting there," a cryptic Trump said in a press conference without questions. Minutes earlier, Putin had spoken about the importance for Russia of achieving peace in Ukraine and expressed respect for Trump, even to the point of stating that if he had been the president of the United States years ago, there would not have been an armed conflict, a frequent assertion by Trump before. to return to the White House. "I can confirm that," Putin said.

"We are convinced that for an agreement to be durable and long-term, we need to eliminate all the root causes of the conflict," Putin said, referring to a series of conditions that Ukraine has flatly refused to accept and that have been described as unacceptable, including more territorial cessions.

Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the special envoy for the Middle East and mediator with the Kremlin, Steve Witkoff, while Putin was accompanied by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin's international policy adviser.

Trump said he would call the president of Ukraine immediately

During his remarks, Trump said that upon leaving the conference he would call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that he would also brief NATO leaders on what had happened. “I’m going to make some calls,” he said.

Although the summit did not conclude with a formal agreement, Trump warned that the United States will impose “economically severe” sanctions if substantial progress is not made in future negotiations.

He also mentioned the possibility of a second summit that would include the Ukrainian president, with the goal of reaching a definitive solution to the conflict.

The leaders of the United States and Russia had not met in person since July 16, 2018, at a summit held in Helsinki, Finland.

When the press conference ended and Trump referred to another possible meeting, Putin turned to the American and said: “This time in Moscow,” to which Trump He responded reservedly: "That sounds interesting." After being in Alaska for about six hours, Trump boarded Air Force One to travel back to Washington.