Russia quickly made concessions to Trump at Putin’s meeting, said sent

Russia quickly gave in to the concessions during the meeting of President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday, according to American special envoy Steve Witkoff.

The remarks come when the United States and European allies are sorting various security guarantees to support a peace agreement and after Witkoff said on Sunday that Putin was on board allowing the United States and its European allies to provide additional protection to Ukraine, similar to the protections included in the mutual defense clause of article 5 of NATO.

“I do not want to immerse myself in the details of what has been discussed because we are in a negotiation, mediation, and I think we are going to succeed because of President Trump’s management,” Witkoff said on Tuesday evening.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets the American special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, August 6, 2025. (Kremlin Press Office / Handout / Anadolu via Getty Images)

“But there have been concessions almost immediately made from the Russians at the first meeting in Alaska,” said Witkoff. “And, you know, part of these concessions was whether we were going to be able to see the Russians ready to be more accommodating.”

Historically, Russia has requested that a peace agreement includes provisions aimed at prohibiting Ukraine from joining NATO, as well as concessions on some of the borders that were previously Ukraine.

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President Donald Trump salutes Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Tarmac after their arrival at the Elmendorf-Richardson joint base in Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP; Getty Images)

Although Trump said on Sunday that Ukraine could end the war by accepting certain land concessions to Russia and eliminating the possibility of NATO membership for Ukraine as part of a potential peace agreement, the next step that Trump and other European allies work are to have security provisions for Ukraine under such a case.

It was a huge goal on Monday, when Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European White House leaders to discuss various security measures to prevent Russian aggression against Ukraine in the future. After the meetings, Trump said on Tuesday that the sending of American troops to Ukraine to strengthen security in the region was out of the table.

“The president has definitively said that American boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantee to our European allies,” the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

“The president understands that security guarantees are essentially important to ensure lasting peace, and he ordered his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe and to continue to cooperate and discuss these questions with Ukraine and Russia.”

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump participate in a meeting at the White House Oval Office in Washington on August 18, 2025. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)

Zelenskyy said that support for security guarantees is essential to ensure stability in Ukraine.

“Security in Ukraine depends on the United States and you and the leaders who are with us in our hearts,” said Zelenskyy on Monday.

“We talked about it and we will talk more about security guarantees,” said Zelenskyy. “It is very important that the United States gives such a strong signal and is ready for security guarantees.”