Russia unleashed a wave of overnight attacks on Ukraine just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin met former U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska for high-profile talks that ended without a ceasefire breakthrough.
Ukraine’s air force said Moscow fired an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 85 Shahed-type attack drones beginning late on August 15 — the same evening Putin and Trump held their summit — and continuing into the early hours of August 16. Kyiv reported that air defences shot down 61 of the drones, while strikes also targeted frontline areas in four regions.
The assault came as the Alaska summit, the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Trump since the invasion began, wrapped up with warm rhetoric but no tangible progress toward peace.
Putin praises Trump, blames U.S. election
At a joint press conference, Putin claimed the war in Ukraine would never have happened if Trump had been in office in 2022.
“Today when President Trump is saying that if he were president, there would have been no war, I am quite sure that it would indeed be so,” Putin said. He described his relationship with Trump as “business-like and trustworthy,” and suggested it could lay the groundwork for ending the conflict.
Trump, in a Fox News interview afterward, echoed the praise and claimed Putin had reinforced his allegations that the 2020 U.S. election was rigged. According to Trump, the Russian leader told him: “Mail-in voting makes it impossible to have honest elections… You won that election by so much. If you had won, we wouldn’t have had a war.”
No deal despite “productive” talks
The summit, expected to last seven hours, ended in under three, with both leaders issuing short statements and taking no questions. Putin insisted that the “primary causes” of the conflict must be resolved before lasting peace could be achieved.
Trump described the discussions as “extremely productive” and expressed optimism about a ceasefire, saying there was “a very good chance” of progress but admitting “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
By the time both men departed Alaska, no agreement had been reached, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had yet to comment publicly on the summit.
Optics spark backlash
Despite the lack of substance, the visit offered Putin a symbolic victory. He was greeted with a red-carpet welcome, a U.S. fighter jet flypast, and applause from Trump’s supporters, even riding away in Trump’s presidential limousine, “The Beast.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mocked Western claims of Moscow’s isolation, writing on Telegram: “For three years they have been talking about Russia’s isolation, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian president in the United States.”
But the optics drew sharp criticism in Washington. Representative James McGovern called the reception “shameful and embarrassing,” writing on X that “the U.S. government should be arresting Putin, not hosting him.”
Beyond Ukraine
Though billed as a peace summit, the two leaders also discussed trade, technology, and space cooperation. Putin said business and investment ties had “tremendous potential,” citing high-tech and Arctic development as possible areas of collaboration.
Trump closed the meeting by thanking Putin and hinting at a follow-up session. “Next time, in Moscow,” Putin quipped in English, drawing laughter. Trump did not rule out the idea, even as he acknowledged it could be controversial, and floated the possibility of a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy and NATO leaders.
Speaking later to Fox News, Trump rated the summit “10 out of 10” and shifted pressure onto Kyiv: “Now, it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done… Make a deal.”
Meanwhile, as the diplomatic theater played out, Russia’s drones and missiles once again rained down on Ukrainian cities, underscoring the gap between rhetoric and reality.
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