SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
President Trump is describing his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as very successful, even though he did not get the ceasefire he had been seeking in his quest to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The summit took place without Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was nevertheless a historic meeting on U.S. soil. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith was on the scene and joins us now from Anchorage, Alaska. Hey, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hey.
DETROW: So let's start with what happened Friday. Quite a show. But what does President Trump have to show for it in the end?
KEITH: Oh, it was quite the show. The Russian dictator, who has been persona non grata in the West since his invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, got a literal red carpet welcome, a fighter jet flyover, a ride in the presidential limousine, The Beast. The meeting between them lasted more than two hours, and then the two men stood at lecterns in front of a banner that said, pursuing peace. But they offered no real details. Trump had come in saying he would be disappointed if he didn't get a ceasefire, but he didn't get a ceasefire. It's not clear he got any concessions from Putin other than a vague plan to keep talking.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We'll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir.
PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: Next time, in Moscow.
TRUMP: Oh, that's an interesting one. I don't know. I'll get a little heat on that one. But I could see it possibly happening.
KEITH: They didn't answer any questions. Since then, Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet.
DETROW: He made a lot of calls, though, on the flight back on Air Force One. Tell us about that.
KEITH: Yeah, he called Ukraine's President Zelenskyy and also European leaders, including the NATO secretary general. In fact, he sat on Air Force One long after it landed to finish up the calls. Then overnight, he posted on social media that Zelenskyy will be coming to the White House on Monday.
And then there was this line. Quote, "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which oftentimes do not hold up." And that's a pretty big reversal from what he was saying going into the summit.
But he said, if this Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy goes well, he would like to do one with both Putin and Zelenskyy together. In a Fox interview, he was quite tight-lipped about what he and Putin agreed to, but he said his advice to Zelenskyy would be, make a deal.
DETROW: Let's talk about another thing that might have changed since things that Trump said before the summit. Beforehand, he said that there would be severe consequences - that was the phrase - for Russia if fighting didn't stop. The summit happened. Fighting isn't stopping. What happened to that threat?
KEITH: It's on hold. Trump had been really building up pressure on Putin - selling weapons to NATO for use by Ukraine, threatening tariffs on countries that bought oil from Russia and other consequences. A bipartisan group of senators had been pushing a tough economic sanctions package, and Trump asked them to hold off for a while, while he worked to get peace in Ukraine. After the summit yesterday, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he was willing to give it more time. He said, if a trilateral meeting actually did come together, he was cautiously optimistic the war could end well before Christmas.
But Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire said Trump had been played by Putin. And if the president doesn't act, the Senate needs to move ahead with, quote, "crushing sanctions" on Russia.
DETROW: So Tam, I'm hearing all this, and it feels like maybe this is mostly about the stagecraft.
KEITH: Yeah. In the end, there just wasn't that much statecraft to show for it. One remarkable thing is that in his press availability immediately after, Trump was clear. He said there was no deal. He said there was disagreement on what he called probably the most significant thing. Today, however, he posted a slow-motion video with him shaking hands of Putin. It was edited, and the White House edited out all the parts where he expressed doubt.
DETROW: NPR's Tamara Keith, senior White House correspondent and my go-to source for presidential summit news, thank you so much.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
