Shortly after the volatile summit in Anchorage, Donald Trump picked up the phone.
He briefed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev about what he and his guest, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, had discussed on the other side of the world without Ukraine and the rest of Europe at the table.
Zelenskyy responded immediately and announced that he would be at the White House on Monday to meet with the US president in Washington. It is not clear what the two will discuss.
Trump and Putin have not revealed whether they have agreed on a ceasefire, territorial concessions from Ukraine or the political future of Ukraine.
Our correspondent Nicolas Connolly summed up the initial reaction from Kiev as one of relief that Trump had apparently not completely betrayed Ukraine by handing it over to Moscow.
Fighting and drone attacks between Russian aggressors and the Ukrainian military continued during the summit in Alaska.
'The winner is Putin'
A German government spokesman in Berlin confirmed that Trump also briefed Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other European heads of state and government about the talks in Alaska that morning.
Merz and the Europeans then discussed how to proceed without Trump. However, the German government spokesman did not reveal what, if anything, Trump had agreed to during the summit.
Europeans continue to support a trilateral summit with Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy at the negotiating table.
In their initial statements, foreign policy experts from the parties in the Bundestag expressed little hope for a breakthrough.
"The winner of this summit is Putin. He was received at the highest level in the US and at the same time managed to sidestep the US threat of secondary sanctions. And all this without making any concessions on his part," said Bundestag member Norbert Röttgen, of the centre-right Christian Democratic Party (CDU), in several interviews.
Just four minutes for Trump
Donald Trump loves to talk, especially about his supposed successes as a skilled negotiator and astute statesman. This time in Alaska, things were different.
By his standards, the "master dealmaker" kept his appearance before the assembled press remarkably brief, lasting just four minutes.
After his three-hour meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a US military base near Anchorage, Trump said only that they had had an "extremely productive meeting".
They had agreed on many things, he said, and only "one big thing" remained.
"We haven't done that yet. But there's a good chance we will," Trump said in an attempt to sound friendly. The US president did not provide further details.
In fact, Trump did not mention Ukraine by name. He only once referred to Russia's war of aggression. "We will end the deaths of five thousand people a week. Even President Putin wants this," he said.
Trump also failed to mention that Putin, a former KGB spy, could achieve this goal immediately if he stopped attacks on Ukraine.
Is Trump believing the Russia narrative?
The guest from Moscow remained extremely polite and calm. Without the slightest concern, he suggested that the “situation” in Ukraine was related to Russia’s security.
It may sound strange in the current circumstances, Putin said, but everything that is being done to "the fraternal people of Ukraine is a tragedy for us, a terrible wound. That is why our country is seriously interested in putting an end to this."
Putin gave the impression that Russia was under threat and had to respond to "provocations."
This is a reversal of the facts, which he apparently also presented to Donald Trump during their talks in Alaska.
Many observers who closely follow the mood swings and erratic statements of the 79-year-old US president believe that Trump is picking up and repeating what he last heard.
Therefore, the question is how far the Russian narrative will spread.
Now 'it's up to Zelensky' to reach a deal with Moscow
Last Wednesday, it seemed as if the American president was on the side of Ukraine, which is under attack.
According to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Donald Trump agreed "mostly" with the West's demands on Russia.
Merz had organized a virtual preparatory summit from Berlin and formulated five points for the negotiations in Alaska.
These included the demand that Ukraine decide on its own territory and the conditions for a ceasefire.
Trump mentioned this request in his brief statement. He said that ultimately, “they” will have to decide, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of key NATO countries.
Trump announced that he would call them immediately to inform them about the talks.
It is unclear whether he will be able to announce any concrete agreements with Russia during these calls.
On the way to Washington, Trump told reporters that it is now up to Zelensky to reach a deal with Moscow.
Zelenskyy has since announced that he will travel to Washington on Monday "to discuss all the details regarding ending the killings and the war," he wrote on X.
He had an hour-long phone conversation with Trump, which was then joined by European heads of state and government.
"We support President Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US and Russia," Zelenskyy wrote.
He continued: “It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to provide credible security guarantees together with America.”
Trump surprisingly submissive to Putin
After the meeting, Donald Trump told reporters he had a “fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir.” Before the meeting, he had described the Russian leader as a “smart guy.”
However, a few weeks ago, he also said that Putin talks a lot of nonsense and does not keep his promises, but instead intensifies his attacks on Ukraine after each of their phone calls.
However, during personal meetings with the Russian leader, Trump always seems to hold back.
No criticism, not even subtle, was heard from Donald Trump. Of course, he is much less reserved with other state guests.
Trump watched Putin's eight minutes of comments and excursions into Russian-American history at the joint press conference with a kind of frozen smile.
He had displayed the same expression in Helsinki in 2018. At that time, the two men gathered for their first long summit meeting.
Trump convinced himself to back himself into a corner and went so far as to say he trusted the man from the Kremlin more than his own intelligence services.
Putin was not stingy with kind words in his comments, praising the excellent prospects for cooperation between the US and Russia and politely thanking the Trump administration for its efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine.
However, he immediately added that the “roots of the conflict” must be eliminated. By this he meant Ukraine’s ties with the West, the membership of Eastern European countries in NATO, and NATO troops on its eastern flank.
Next stop: Moscow?
Ultimately, few concrete results were made public. There was no mention of a ceasefire or steps towards one.
Donald Trump had announced that if the Alaska summit was successful, there would be a trilateral meeting between him, Putin and the Ukrainian president.
But there was no mention of this after the talks. "We may see each other again soon," the US president said vaguely.
The Russian leader then invited a bewildered Trump to Moscow in English. “It could happen,” Trump said, even if he faced some criticism for doing so.
If Moscow were the next venue for talks, it would make Volodymyr Zelensky's participation almost impossible.
Ahead of the summit, Trump had threatened Russia with "severe consequences" if Putin did not act towards a ceasefire.
It remains unclear whether these consequences will now follow — meaning new and harsh economic sanctions against Russia's business partners, such as India and China.
However, the US president implied that "after what happened today, higher tariffs against China are impossible."
Unfortunately, Trump had very little to say about what had happened./DW
