India on Saturday welcomed the high-level talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, emphasizing the urgent need for peace in Ukraine.
The meeting, held on Friday at a US air base, lasted three hours but ended without a ceasefire agreement. While Trump admitted he had not secured an immediate halt to hostilities, he expressed confidence in pursuing a full peace deal to end the conflict.
“The world wants to see an early conclusion to the conflict in Ukraine,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. New Delhi praised the Trump-Putin engagement, calling their “leadership in the pursuit of peace highly commendable” and stressing that “the way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy.”
Despite the lack of a breakthrough, the White House confirmed that Trump communicated with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy immediately after the summit, sharing updates on the discussions. Zelenskyy is scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday for direct talks with Trump.
European leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen later joined a call with Trump to discuss next steps. According to officials, they signaled readiness to ramp up sanctions against Moscow while backing Trump’s proposal for a broader summit that includes Ukraine.
In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump described the Alaska talks as “a great and very successful day,” noting that both European leaders and Putin were aligned on the idea of moving toward a comprehensive peace agreement rather than a temporary ceasefire.
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement… potentially saving millions of lives,” Trump wrote, confirming his plan to meet Zelenskyy on Monday, with a possible follow-up meeting with Putin thereafter.
— With inputs from agencies
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