Putin comes in from the cold

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So much for Donald Trump's threat to "walk out" if he felt he was getting played or the "severe consequences" that would rain down on Russia if Vladimir Putin refused his demand for a ceasefire in Ukraine at their summit in Alaska.

Instead, Trump rolled out the red carpet for the Russian president, posed with him as a B-2 stealth bomber and fighter jets flew over their heads, then beckoned him into his armored limousine.

Little wonder Putin was grinning as he sauntered over to his clapping counterpart. His journey from pariah to peer was complete.

Putin and Trump at a news conference after their summit at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

"Good afternoon, dear neighbor," Putin recounted to journalists at a news conference alongside Trump, about their first meeting in six years. "It is very nice to see you in good health and alive."

He was on the ground for less than five hours, but Putin got what he came for: A return to the top table of great-power diplomacy. He was welcomed onto American soil by the leader of the free world - and didn't make a single concession.

By the time Trump and Putin emerged from their almost three-hour meeting, their longest on record, reporters who had flown across the globe expecting a repeat of the fireworks of the 2018 summit in Helsinki, or at least a lively news conference, were left disappointed. There would be no questions.

Trump appeared unusually subdued. Was it restraint? The clues came in what Putin said as he spoke first — usually the host's prerogative. He and Trump had reached an "understanding" and Ukraine's allies in Europe best not "put up any obstacles," he said.

If Volodymyr Zelenskiy was looking for reassurance, he likely didn't find any in what Trump later told Fox News: it was up to the Ukrainian president now to "get it done."

He's expecting a phone call from Trump. It may be a difficult discussion.—Flavia Krause-Jackson

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While the summit began with a stage-managed greeting between the two leaders on the tarmac, things quickly veered off script. Putin joined Trump in the back of the US president's armored limousine, known as 'the Beast', where they held their first substantial in-person conversation since the Group of 20 in Japan in 2019, essentially alone and out of earshot of aides, officials and the assembled world media.

Trump and Putin walk toward the US presidential limousine from a stage at the air base. Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump said he'll hold off on raising tariffs on Chinese goods over the country's purchases of Russian oil, citing progress he said was made at the summit with Putin on ending the war in Ukraine. "Because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that," Trump said in his Fox News interview with Sean Hannity. "Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something."

Trump greets Putin on the tarmac at the base after their arrival in Alaska. Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump said he held a "wonderful" phone call with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin's close ally who's under international sanctions, ahead of the summit. Trump said in a Truth Social post that he wanted to thank the autocratic Lukashenko for freeing political prisoners after a deal brokered by the US earlier this year, and that they discussed the possible release of another 1,300.

The Trump administration's decision to pause military aid to Ukraine earlier this year undercut Kyiv's fighting capability and undermined its negotiating position with Russia, according to a newly disclosed assessment from the US European Command. The eight-day halt in March "had tangible effect" on the conflict as well as "significant residual effects on the delivery of security assistance," according to the report.

Citigroup has been working on a long-shot bid to put together a deal that it says would help Ukraine fund its reconstruction. The Wall Street giant has been sounding out investors since late last year on a deal that would allow the state-owned grid operator NPC Ukrenergo to refinance debt on more attractive terms, sources said, allowing savings to be used to help rebuild Ukraine's power grid.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to meet with Zelenskiy following the US-Russia summit, the Elysee palace said, without providing details.

The US is weighing the threat of sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil as part of options to push Putin to accept a ceasefire, sources said. That doesn't feel imminent, based on Friday's optics.

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Bloomberg Intelligence

Neither leader mentioned a ceasefire in their statements after the summit, even as Trump had said before the talks that his goal was to persuade Putin to end the war. Russia has stepped up territorial gains in recent months as its forces put Ukrainian defenses under mounting pressure, giving Putin little incentive to agree to a truce as he presses for concessions from Kyiv.

And Finally

Kremlin reporters who traveled with Putin for the talks on Ukraine were served 'Chicken Kiev' on the flight to Alaska, while Russian journalists who arrived earlier were startled to discover they were being housed on camp beds in a sports arena. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov trolled his American hosts by wearing a sweater with USSR written on it in Cyrillic letters. Protesters who turned out to support Ukraine's refusal to cede territory also nodded to Alaska's past as a former Russian territory that was sold to the US.