“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” declared a slightly melancholic president Trump yesterday at his peculiarly short news conference with Vladimir Putin. And president Zelenskyy ended up not being the only elephant in the room – the pair failed to say the word “ceasefire”.
Comparing this meeting with Donald Trump’s Oval Office shouting match with Zelenskyy shows how much the US president loves fawning over Putin, an alleged war criminal who has repeatedly violated international law, suppressed free speech, and committed human rights abuses.
But among the flirts, the pair did reveal some details of their discussions on ending the illegal invasion of Ukraine.
“I believe we had a very productive meeting,” Trump said. “There were many, many points that we agreed on… There’s no deal until there’s a deal. I will call up Nato… I’ll of course call up President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting… We really made some great progress.”
He added: “I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin – with Vladimir… We were interfered with by the ‘Russia Russia Russia’ hoax.”
“Many points were agreed to,” he continued. “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.”
Though for a man who enjoys lengthy events, big rants, and a bucket ton of questions, I think reporters in Anchorage, Alaska, were surprised to see Trump casually walk off the stage after a three and half minute set, vying to trumpet little signs of progress.
Just hours before this moment, on Air Force One, the president was hinting to the exact same journalists that there was a good chance of a deal today. (And before his re-election, he promised Americans he’d end the conflict on “day one”).
Jetting down in an air force base in Alaska, Trump was clapping his hands jubilantly, watching the Russian president come towards him for their first in-person discussion since 2019. This was conveniently edited out of the White House social media clip.
After a few hours, when Putin warned Europe and Zelensky not to “throw a spanner in the works” of the peace process and accused Joe Biden of aiding the conflict, his last public words were: “Next time in Moscow?”
I think many Brits this morning will be waiting to hear what Keir Starmer has to say on it all.