Live Updates: Trump Backs Putin’s Route for Talks, Dashing Ukraine’s Hopes for Swift Cease-Fire

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“President Trump, after his summit with President Putin, favored pursuing a sweeping peace agreement over an urgent cease-fire, a move that would benefit Russia in ongoing negotiations. This departure from the agreed-upon strategy with European allies and President Zelensky provoked a chilly reception in Europe. President Zelensky, while acknowledging the need for a lasting peace, emphasized the urgency of ending the killings and securing a cease-fire.

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President Trump said that he and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia favor a comprehensive peace deal over the urgent cease-fire Ukraine wants. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he would meet with Mr. Trump in Washington on Monday.

Updated 

Aug. 16, 2025, 7:59 a.m. ET6 minutes ago

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President Trump appeared on Saturday to split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, adopting Mr. Putin’s preference for pursuing a sweeping peace agreement instead of the urgent cease-fire Mr. Trump said he wanted before the meeting.

Doing so would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are due to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visits Mr. Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Mr. Trump and European allies, as well as Mr. Zelensky, had agreed to before the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska, and it provoked a chilly reception in Europe, where leaders have time and again seen Mr. Trump reverse positions on Ukraine after speaking with Mr. Putin.

Aug. 16, 2025, 7:18 a.m. ET

It is noteworthy that Kyiv’s European allies, in their various statements after the Alaska meeting, did not mention the need to reach a cease-fire first. It has been one of their key principles.

The approach could be a way to avoid antagonizing Mr. Trump, who said he wants a direct peace agreement without securing a cease-fire first.

Aug. 16, 2025, 7:01 a.m. ET

Mr. Zelensky in a statement about the negotiations seemed to tread carefully to not openly contradict Mr. Trump’s call for a direct peace deal over a cease-fire.

“We need to achieve a real peace that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions,” he said. But he added that “the killings must stop as soon as possible, and the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the air, as well as against our port infrastructure,” suggesting that he still does prioritize a cease-fire.

President Trump speaking with reporters on Air Force One on his way to Alaska on Friday.Doug Mills/The New York Times

After his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday, President Trump sat down with the Fox News host Sean Hannity to record an interview in which he offered few details about what the two leaders had said about the war in Ukraine, but talked up their personal connection.

“I think the meeting was a 10,” Mr. Trump said after Mr. Hannity asked how he would rate his talks with the Russian president. “In the sense we got along great, and it’s good when two big powers get along, especially when they’re nuclear powers. We’re No. 1 and they’re No. 2 in the world.”

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:45 a.m. ET

Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, said in a statement that “President Trump today took up the Italian idea of security guarantees inspired by Article 5 of NATO.” Under this idea, Ukraine would not become part of NATO, but “a collective security clause” would allow it “to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the U.S., ready to take action if it is attacked again,” Ms. Meloni said.

Aug. 16, 2025, 6:09 a.m. ET

Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said in a statement that he welcomed “the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.” Then he, like in the joint statement, said he was determined to keep increasing economic pressure on Russia until the war ends.

A Ukrainian soldier firing at Russian targets in the Donetsk region in June. The area is part of the Donbas, which Moscow seeks to capture.Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Russia entered Friday’s inconclusive talks with the United States from a position of strength on the battlefield in Ukraine. It is a position Russia is likely to keep exploiting, as President Trump on Saturday seemed to rule out any prospect of an imminent cease-fire.

The Russian Army has driven a wedge into Ukrainian defenses in the east, and Ukrainian officials have warned that Moscow has massed forces and equipment for new offensive operations.

Aug. 16, 2025, 5:43 a.m. ET

European leaders are out with a joint statement about the negotiations. They notably do not echo Trump’s claim that peace talks are preferable to a cease-fire. The statement welcomes Trump’s efforts to stop the war and his declaration that America would contribute to future security guarantees after any peace deal. But otherwise, it sounds like Europe is trying to reassure the world that it is standing behind Ukraine in key areas that Trump might not be. The statement is signed by leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Poland, the European Union and the European Council. 

Aug. 16, 2025, 5:51 a.m. ET

One notable line is a threat to increase economic penalties on Putin. “As long as the killing in Ukraine continues, we stand ready to uphold the pressure on Russia,” the leaders write. “We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy until there is a just and lasting peace.”

Aug. 16, 2025, 5:18 a.m. ET

President Trump’s argument that it would be better to seek a peace deal without a cease-fire first is a key development after his summit with Putin. A peace deal favors Russia because it can continue the war — where it has the upper hand — while talks on a comprehensive settlement take place. A cease-fire would favor Ukraine because it could offer a reprieve from Russian attacks. 

David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Aug. 16, 2025, 5:12 a.m. ET

Trump posted on Truth Social that he, Putin, Zelensky and European leaders all agree 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 often times do not hold up.”

This is a notable departure from the “principles” that Trump and European leaders agreed to earlier this week on a call organized by the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. Those principles included refusing to discuss terms of a peace plan until a cease-fire is in place.

Aug. 16, 2025, 5:16 a.m. ET

It is a shift that would appear to benefit Russia, which has long wanted to skip a cease-fire and go straight to negotiations over land swaps and other areas, and hurt Ukraine, which wants fighting to stop before negotiations start.

Aug. 16, 2025, 5:10 a.m. ET

A spokesman for Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said on Saturday morning that European leaders had agreed to a common approach for the next steps of the peace process in Ukraine, after being briefed by Trump on his meeting with Putin. Merz, who convened a call between Trump and European allies this week, did not offer any details on what that common approach might entail.

Aug. 16, 2025, 4:58 a.m. ET

Dmitri Medvedev, a hard-line ex-Russian president who has drawn Trump’s irewith past anti-U.S. statements, sounds more conciliatory the morning after the Alaska summit. In a Telegram post, Medvedev, widey seen as a social-media attack dog for President Putin, said the summit was “calm, without ultimatums and threats,” and that Trump had “abandoned the escalation of pressure on Russia. At least for now.”

Medvedev, who wasn’t at the meeting, said that its most significant result was that “both sides directly placed the responsibility for achieving future results in the negotiations on ending military actions on Kyiv and Europe.”

Aug. 16, 2025, 3:36 a.m. ET

After President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Trump spoke one on one, European leaders joined the conversation, the Ukrainian presidential office said. The French presidential office said the leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Finland and Poland joined the call, along with the heads of NATO and the European Commission.

Aug. 16, 2025, 3:33 a.m. ET

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he would travel to Washington on Monday to meet President Trump and “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.” Zelensky said that he “had a long and substantive conversation” with Trump during which the American president informed him about his meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Aug. 16, 2025, 3:12 a.m. ET

President Trump is back at the White House. His whirlwind trip is over.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:22 a.m. ET

We are holding on the plane because President Trump is on the phone with NATO leaders, according to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. She said Trump had a “lengthy” call earlier in the flight with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and has spent most of his flight back on the phone.

Aug. 16, 2025, 2:04 a.m. ET

President Trump has just touched down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. It was a quiet flight from Alaska, except for the clips of his interview with Sean Hannity that cycled through Fox News on the in-flight televisions.

President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska on Friday.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

At the summit in Alaska on Friday between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, before their formal discussions on Ukraine, the two leaders had a brief conversation isolated from any aides or journalists in the U.S. president’s limousine.

In the apparently unplanned encounter, they were accompanied only by two security officers in the front of the eight-ton armored car. It left many wondering: What exactly did they talk about?

The International Criminal Court has accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of war crimes.Pool photo by Evgenia Novozhenina

When the International Criminal Court accused President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of war crimes in 2023 and issued a warrant for his arrest, the move was largely symbolic because there was little chance he would stand trial. But it immediately jeopardized Mr. Putin’s ability to travel to the more than 120 countries that have signed on to the I.C.C. 

They include almost every nation in Europe and dozens more in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They are all legally required to arrest Mr. Putin and send him to The Hague if he sets foot on their soil. But Mr. Putin’s visit to Alaska on Friday highlighted a notable exception. 

President Trump with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia during a joint address in Anchorage on Friday.Doug Mills/The New York Times

As President Trump has endeavored to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine, he has repeatedly described it as President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s war, and claimed it would have never started under his watch.

Until Friday, when Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin met in Alaska to discuss the conflict, it seemed a boastful refrain that gave Mr. Trump cover for failing to stop a three-year-war he said he could stop within 24 hours of taking office.

President Trump with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. The leaders greeted one another warmly at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.Doug Mills/The New York Times

There was pronounced gloating in Russia over Friday’s summit in Alaska, where President Vladimir V. Putin was given the red carpet treatment by President Trump on American soil and appeared to make a huge dent in more than three years of diplomatic isolation.

Ending the war in Ukraine had been on the agenda, but neither Mr. Putin nor Mr. Trump announced a cease-fire deal after the nearly three-hour meeting.“