Trump and Putin's meeting explained as pair fail to reach ceasefire agreement

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin came together for a historic meeting yesterday, but it seems as if little progress was made as the world strives for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

After a phone call between the two world leaders early into Trump's second term, this was the first time the two had met in person since his second inauguration.

The US president claimed that 'great progress' was made during their three-hour meeting in Alaska on Friday (15 August).

While the two were once thought to have a good relationship, it appeared to have deteriorated in the months since the 79-year-old American returned to the Oval Office, with Trump describing Putin as 'absolutely crazy' in the aftermath of a deadly attack on Ukraine.

What happened at the Trump-Putin meeting?

It was hoped that serious progress was going to be made but it appears as if most were left with more questions than answers on Friday, particularly after both leaders issued short statements and refused to take any questions from the press before abruptly leaving.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met for crunch talks yesterday (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

While some have even questioned if the real Putin showed up, he was clapped by Trump after the red carpet was rolled out for the Russian, before undergoing an uncomfortable handshake that was almost as long as their near three-hour chat.

Have they agreed to a ceasefire in Ukraine?

It's not clear at this point what exactly the two discussed but one thing we can be sure of is that, as it stands, Russia will not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, more than three years on from the invasion.

Though Trump did seem to inspire some hope with his suggestion that progress was made, with Putin also inviting the US leader to Moscow for future conversations.

Putin spoke first, praising his American counterpart for the 'neighbourly' talk and the 'constructive atmosphere of mutual respect'.

He then mentioned 'the situation in Ukraine' and stated that an unspecified 'agreement' had been reached but that the 'root causes' of the conflict had to be resolved before peace could be achieved.

Both leaders refused questions from the press following their statements (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Trump added: "There's no deal until there's a deal. But we had an extremely productive meeting and many points were agreed to.

"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 really made some great progress today."

After an explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier in his term, it seems as if Trump is now fully committed to bringing an end to the war.

When was Trump and Putin's last meeting?

Putin and Trump met a number of times during the latter's first presidential term between 2017 and 2021.

Their last meeting, before yesterday's, was at the G20 summit in Japan in 2019.

John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, spoke very differently about the approaches of Putin and the US president during that last in-person chat six years ago.

Of Putin, he said: "I've never seen him any way other than being prepared, very calm, very reasonable in his presentation, and I think that's part of his KGB training."

And of Trump, Bolton added: "He doesn't really prepare for them because he doesn't really think he needs to; he doesn't think he needs the background information. I'm sure they're preparing briefing materials as we always did, and he won't read them."

It's unclear if the 79-year-old Republican was more prepared for this recent meeting but if what he said in his press conference is true, then perhaps a ceasefire might well be on the horizon.