AP explains as Putin comes out of summit with Trump's backing and less pressure to end conflict

(16 Aug 2025) ++PLEASE NOTE: AP IS OPERATING IN RUSSIA ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN RESTRICTIONS ON ALL REPORTING RELATED TO THE ONGOING MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE++ POOL Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaksa - 15 August 2025 1. Russian President Vladimir Putin walks across tarmac and onto red carpet and shakes hands with US President Donald Trump ASSOCIATED PRESS Moscow, Russia - 16 August 2025 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Harriet Morris, The Associated Press: “Russian commentators are calling the meeting in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “historic” and “important” - with some describing the meeting as a symbolic end to Putin’s isolation in the West. And the TV pictures work well for this narrative - the red-carpet treatment, the warm embrace, and a shared car journey." POOL Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaksa - 15 August 2025 3. Trump and Putin step up on platform, shake hands again as reporters try to ask questions 4. Trump and Putin get into the same car and are driven away, Putin grins and waves ASSOCIATED PRESS Moscow, Russia - 16 August 2025 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Harriet Morris, The Associated Press: "But Ukrainian allies in the West are asking: what - if anything, has been achieved? And are we any closer to ending the fighting in Ukraine? There was no deal reached on a ceasefire, as Trump had promised. And Putin successfully managed to avoid additional sanctions, which the US president had also threatened. And in an apparent reversal - Trump posted on his social media that working on a long-term peace agreement, not a ceasefire, was now the way forward in Ukraine – an approach that Putin has often put forward himself. Now, all eyes are turning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who’s been invited to Washington on Monday for talks with Trump on how to end the war.” STORYLINE: In Alaska, President Vladimir Putin walked on a red carpet, shook hands and exchanged smiles with his American counterpart. Donald Trump ended the summit praising their relationship and Russia as a superpower, even after admitting they didn't reach a deal on ending the war in Ukraine. By Saturday morning Moscow time, Trump appeared to have abandoned the idea of a ceasefire -– something he and Ukraine had pushed for months -– in favor of pursuing a full-fledged “Peace Agreement" to end the war, echoing a long-held Kremlin position. The “severe consequences” he threatened against Moscow for continuing hostilities were nowhere in sight. On Ukraine's battlefields, Russian troops slowly grinded on, with time on their side. Putin’s visit to Alaska was his first visit to the United States in 10 years, and his first visit to a Western country since he invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022, plunging Moscow’s relations with the West to the lowest point since the Cold War. A flurry of crippling sanctions followed, as well as efforts to shun Russia om the global stage.   In a major blow to his global standing, the International Criminal Court in 2023 issued an arrest warrant against Putin on accusations of war crimes, casting a shadow on his foreign trips and contacts with other world leaders. Trump’s administration this year appeared to upend all that, especially with the Alaska summit, where the U.S. president warmly greeted Putin on a red carpet as U.S. warplanes flew over their heads as the world was watching. Trump in recent months has pushed for a ceasefire, something Ukraine and European allies have supported and insisted on as a pre-requisite for any peace talks. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4b3695615c824a43a9e4e6830c67e184