Summit concludes without deal to end war in Ukraine

Trump calls meeting productive as Putin praises US leader

- ANDREW FEINBERG SAM KILEY IN ANCHORAGE

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ended nearly three hours of high-stakes talks in Alaska last night without any sign of a Ukraine ceasefire deal - raising questions over the trajectory of the war and the fate of European security.

“We didn’t get there,” a downbeat US president said as he told reporters that the two leaders had not reached an agreement but that the meeting had been “very productive”.

“We’ve made some headway,” he added. “So there’s no deal until there’s a deal. I will call up Nato in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate. And I'll, of course, call up President Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting.”

He added: “We had an extremely productive meeting and 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, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”

Neither Putin nor Mr Trump used the word “ceasefire” in the short statements they made to the assembled media, before they shook hands and left the stage without taking questions.

There was no sign of what the major sticking point could have been although Putin said that Mr Trump had insisted on highlighting the importance of Ukraine's security. Putin said: “We’re convinced that in order to make the settlement lasting and long term, we need to eliminate all the primary roots, the primary causes of that conflict. And we’ve said it multiple times, to consider all legitimate concerns of Russia and to reinstate a just balance of security in Europe and in the world on the whole. And I agree with President Trump, as he has said today, that naturally, the security of Ukraine should be ensured as well. Naturally, we are prepared to work on that.”