US President Donald Trump stood on the red carpet, extending his hand to greet Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on 15/8.

This was the first time Trump and Putin had met face-to-face since the 2019 G20 summit in Japan.

Trump patted Putin's arm as they shook hands. The two then walked together on the red carpet to the photo platform. Overhead, a B-2 bomber and 4 F-35 fighter jets performed a flyover.

The two leaders posed for a photo at the airport, with 4 F-22 stealth fighters and an Air Force One aircraft in the background.

The event marked the first time a Russian leader had set foot in Alaska since Moscow sold the territory to Washington in 1867.

The meeting between Trump and Putin took place in a three-on-three format instead of the initially planned one-on-one.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff joined President Trump, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy advisor, accompanied the Russian president.

The two leaders did not make statements or answer questions from the press before the meeting. When some American reporters tried to question Putin, he pretended not to hear them.

The meeting lasted for about 3 hours. Afterward, the Russian and American leaders held a joint press conference.

In the photo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) spoke with his American counterpart Marco Rubio before the joint press conference.

Putin spoke first at the press conference, contrary to the usual protocol where the host country's leader speaks first.

Putin announced that he had reached an agreement with Trump and expressed hope that the leaders of Ukraine and Europe "will not obstruct" the process of ending the conflict. The Russian leader also agreed with Trump's statement that the Ukraine conflict would not have occurred if Trump had still been the US leader in 2022.

Putin acknowledged that US-Russia relations had suffered in recent years, with no summits between the two countries in the past 4 years. He admitted that the bilateral relationship had fallen to its lowest point since the Cold War. According to the Kremlin chief, the summit between Russian and US leaders "should have taken place a long time ago."

Putin agreed with Trump that Ukraine's security needs to be guaranteed.

Trump stated that the talks with his Russian counterpart were "extremely productive" but added that "more needs to be done" to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Trump said that the two sides "had made some progress and there had been major developments" during the meeting, but added that "no agreements have been reached yet." The American president confirmed he would soon convene a meeting with NATO for further discussion. He also said he would invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the meeting and brief him on today's talks.

The Russian president spoke for 8 minutes, while the US president spoke for about 3 minutes.

The two leaders concluded the press conference and left the auditorium without answering any questions from reporters. The total time Putin and Trump met, from disembarking their planes to the end of the press conference, was about 5 hours.

Putin then visited the graves of Soviet Red Army soldiers at the Richardson base cemetery after his summit with Trump. This is the resting place of Soviet pilots and sailors who died while transporting military equipment from the US to the Soviet Union during the World War II Lend-Lease program.

The Russian president then boarded his plane to depart Alaska.

Trump waved goodbye before entering Air Force One to leave Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a few minutes after Putin's plane took off.

Hong Hanh (Photos: AP, AFP, Reuters)