Ukraine war latest: Trump says no deal reached on Ukraine yet – but tells joint news conference with Putin they made ‘great progress’ | World News

Our US correspondent James Matthews was in the room when Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin gave their joint news conferences – and he notes that the lack of mention of a ceasefire in Ukraine “jumped out”.

“Had they mentioned a ceasefire today, it would have changed the nature of the discussion. We appear to be well short of that,” he says.

Matthews points out Putin said that in order to make any agreement last, the “root causes” of the war in Ukraine, and Russia’s ongoing concerns, need addressing.

“That’s been Russia’s starting point, and it’s been the sticking point throughout this whole process.

“For Putin to stand on that stage alongside Trump and have the confidence to articulate that tells me that that resonates with Trump.”

But that position is unacceptable to Ukraine, he notes.

Implications for Ukraine

Matthews goes on to say that while Trump was talking up the outcome of the meeting, he also said they have not quite reached a deal.

“Accentuating the positive, but in there was the negative,” he says.

But if the two men are both committed to the idea of addressing Russia’s grievances, then “there will be pessimism around the prospect of taking this any further”.

“I thought we saw two old friends getting back together with a mutual understanding, a mutual respect,” he continues.

“What the implications are for Ukraine, we’ve yet to see.”