Russian President Vladimir Putin conceded there was no agreement reached with President Donald Trump at last year’s Alaska summit to end the war in Ukraine.
The comment undercut months of Kremlin claims that Washington and Moscow had settled on a path forward.
The Washington Post reported that senior Russian figures had recently accused the White House of failing to honor what Moscow described as an Alaska understanding.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected that claim.
“If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end of the war,” Rubio told reporters.
“Russia wants the entirety of Donetsk to be turned over to them, among some other things,” Rubio said, describing Moscow’s demand for more Ukrainian territory.
Putin acknowledged the central point.
“There were indeed no agreements reached in Anchorage,” he said.
“The spirit of Anchorage, although it wasn’t expressed in any formal documents, and no one put any signatures down, in Anchorage we discussed certain possibilities for ending the crisis in Ukraine,” Putin told Russian state television.
Putin’s admission comes as Russia’s war effort has slowed. Ukrainian drones are putting increased pressure on Russian military logistics, occupied Crimea and targets inside Russia.
Trump had said after the Alaska meeting that it was “extremely productive,” but also cautioned that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
The Post reported that Russian analysts now view the dispute between Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as a sign that Ukraine has persuaded Trump it can keep fighting rather than accept Moscow’s terms.
“He’s holding his own at least,” Trump said of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week.
“A lot of people dying on both sides, but I think he’s doing pretty well,” Trump said. “You have to say he’s courageous, he’s got great equipment, he’s got great men, he’s got fighters.”
Ruslan Leviev, an analyst with the Conflict Intelligence Team, told the Post that the war has changed this year.
“It’s hard to say the battle initiative is on the Ukrainian side,” Leviev said, “but time is on Ukraine’s side, more problems keep arising for Russia, economically, politically and militarily, and it’s all adding up.”
Putin said Russia expects U.S.-led peace talks to resume after the “hot phase” of the Iran war is resolved.
Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media, Inc., the parent company of NEWSMAX, wrote in an opinion piece on Tuesday that Putin appears physically challenged.
“Watching Putin address Russia's ruling United Russia Party congress this past week, I was struck by how different he appeared,” Ruddy wrote. “He looked tired, perhaps, even medicated. The strain of years of war seemed etched across his forehead. While no one should pretend to diagnose another person's health from television images, the pressure of this conflict now appears impossible to conceal.”