On August 15, 2025, President Donald Trump met up with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting was arranged by President Trump to negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. The majority of the meeting was kept under wraps, but here’s what we do know:
- Trump aimed to establish, at least, the beginnings of a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.
- Trump left the meeting claiming that he and Putin “really made some great progress” and that the meeting was very productive, with the two leaders coming to an understanding.
- Putin, while agreeing with Trump on the surface, launched a brutal attack on Ukraine only five days after the meeting. This attack sent over 700 drones and 40 missiles into Ukraine. Just a few days later, Russia launched the “second-largest aerial assault on Ukraine since its invasion in 2022” according to MSNBC.
- According to MSNBC, since Trump has returned to office, Moscow has “more than doubled the number of drones and missiles fired toward Ukraine compared to the final six months of Joe Biden’s presidency.”
- Trump, for an unknown reason, ordered army troops to roll out a red carpet especially for Putin.
We do not know what was said in the meeting between Trump and Putin, but the ongoing correspondence between the two presidents suggests another meeting in the near future, one hopefully more open to the public.
