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The Source with Kaitlan Collins

Trump & Putin Conclude High-Stakes Summit In Alaska With No Deal; Trump On Disclosing Top Sticking Point With Putin: I'd Rather Not; Putin Warns Kyiv, Europe: Don't Torpedo The "Emerging Progress." Aired 9-10p ET

Aired August 15, 2025 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[21:00:00]

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, U.S. AIR NATIONAL GUARD, SERVED IN IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN: And you can tell that when, by the way, the Shahed drones and missiles are fired at apartment buildings, and not at military equipment or military bases in Ukraine.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Yes. Congressman Kinzinger, I really appreciate your time as always.

KINZINGER: You bet.

COOPER: Thank you all for joining us.

"THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN Breaking News.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: The last time there was a meeting, this highly anticipated, between the leaders of the United States and Russia, President Trump set off an earthquake with what he said, as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Russian president, after they had emerged from hours behind closed doors in Helsinki.

But this time, here in Anchorage, at this hastily-arranged summit in Alaska, the major fallout tonight is because of what wasn't said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say. A couple of big ones that we haven't quite gotten there, but we've made some headway. So, there's no deal until there's a deal.

I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I'll, of course, call up President Zelenskyy and tell him about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them. They're going to have to agree with what Marco and Steve and some of the great people from the Trump administration who have come here, Scott and John Ratcliffe, thank you very much. But we have some of our really great leaders. They have been doing a phenomenal job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The President there mentioning several of his senior staff, but no mention of a ceasefire or severe sanctions that he had promised if things didn't go the way he expected them to today.

So what exactly did happen in that room is something that we are starting to piece together tonight, as the President, for his part, tried to spin it the best he could.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn't get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The President making clear there that no deal with Putin was reached on a ceasefire. And he just left Anchorage, a few moments ago, without what he had wanted in hand there.

This day began with plenty of pomp and somewhat awkward circumstances, as American service members, who were in uniform, quite literally rolled out the red carpet for someone who, for years, has been a global pariah.

President Trump was greeting President Putin with a hearty handshake, and a ride to the meeting in The Beast, just the two of them, as you can see here. That was apparently the only time it was just the two of them together. It was about 10 minutes or so, from what we judged, from when they got in the car to when they got out.

And then that came after the United States changed things up, in the last minute to the schedule. What was expected to be a one-on-one then included two advisers each in the room, with Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and, the special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in there with the U.S. President.

The two leaders were here on the ground, for about a total of six hours, and the Russian leader seemed quite happy to keep -- kicking the can down the road when it comes to getting a peace deal in Ukraine, as he mentioned his long-serving grievances that he has had when it comes to his war in Ukraine.

And at the end, he said he had an idea for the next meeting that he could have with President Trump. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So again, Mr. President, I'd like to thank you very much, and we'll speak to you very soon, and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: Next time in Moscow.

TRUMP: Ooh, that's an interesting one. I don't know. I'll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: My lead sources are here to start me off tonight in Anchorage.

CNN Chief National Security Analyst, Jim Sciutto is here.

Also, former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief, Jill Dougherty is joining us.

And Jill, I'll get to you, because I can't wait to hear your thoughts on what you saw playing out.

But Jim, watching that and listening to that.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF," CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right.

COLLINS: I mean, we were in the room. There was this sense of anticipation, because they moved us pretty quickly to our seats.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

COLLINS: And then, as both of them had pretty short remarks, which, as you know, is not typical for either of them, we were prepared to take questions. We were standing up, shouting questions. And Trump then turned and left the stage with Putin.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

COLLINS: I wonder what that says to you.

SCIUTTO: Well, listen, by President Trump's own measure of success for the summit, it was a failure. Because, he wanted a ceasefire. He didn't get a ceasefire. He didn't announce it there. Is it possible over the next several days, weeks, we see one? Yes, but he didn't get it in this meeting.

[21:05:00]

No one begrudges his efforts to do so, the least -- least of whom, the Ukrainian people who are desperate for peace, right, to end the onslaught they've been suffering through these years.

But he didn't, in this moment, move President Putin off his core interests and demands by force of personality and presence alone, which seemed to be Trump's calculation going into this, that, If I could just get into a room with him face-to-face, I can bring us to a deal. And that didn't work in the moment.

And you heard that in President Putin's comments, prior to President Trump speaking, repeating these phrases we've heard from the beginning. One, Address the root causes of the war. That--

COLLINS: Yes, the second he said, Root causes--

SCIUTTO: It's code for, It's your fault I invaded, right? I invaded with justification, threat from the West, NATO, et cetera.

And the other familiar phrase is, Addressed core interests of Russia, core national security interests. And again, by his judgment, that is an independent, free, westward-leaning Ukraine is a threat to Russia, and he doesn't want that to happen, so.

COLLINS: And there was a comment that he made about basically hoping European leaders don't torpedo whatever it is that they agreed to. I mean, they never really laid out what it was.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

COLLINS: But clearly, I'm assuming by that, it crosses some red lines that European leaders have.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. Now I will say that the fear I heard from European officials, prior to this meeting, was that Trump might make a deal over Ukraine's head and over Europe's head, right, might agree to something that they weren't comfortable with. And that didn't -- that didn't happen.

And Trump did say, I'm going to check in with my allies at NATO and with the Ukrainian president. And he did say as well that, no land swaps are going to happen without Ukraine, in effect, approving that decision.

So, the worst fears of many, on that side of the Atlantic, did not come out. But the President's hope certainly were not realized either.

COLLINS: Jill Dougherty, you're our former Moscow Bureau Chief. How do you think Putin's leaving this meeting feeling? What are -- what are the Russians talking about, on their flight back right now, do you think?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, he leaves a happy man. Things look good. The pomp and the circumstance that you referred to, the Russians love it. I think they're perceiving this as a win for Mr. Putin.

There were a couple of hints, though, I think, when you get into the substance, as opposed to the cosmetics. He did talk about root causes, and no question, and that is a red flag. But there were a couple of kind of cryptic comments about working on security issues. Not quite sure exactly what he meant, and if I heard him correctly. He talked about, not throwing a wrench into anything. So, there may be something in that, when -- if you put that together with the Europeans, the Europeans are supposed to, as kind of the coalition of the willing, provide some type of forces that would be kind of peacekeepers, or at least minders. And I don't know. We'll have to hear the details.

But overall, I think Putin came here and got exactly what he wanted, which is kicking the can down the road, no real definition, and really not changing that root cause that he constantly talks about.

COLLINS: Yes.

Jill Dougherty. Jim Sciutto. Thank you for that expert analysis.

I also want to check in, in Ukraine. That's our CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live in Kyiv right now.

Obviously, Nick, we were leaving the military base, where Trump and Putin met just a few moments ago. We watched Putin take off, and then we watched Air Force One take off. I mean, presumably Trump is calling Zelenskyy from this flight back to Washington.

But have you heard any reaction there so far, to what they made of today's summit, and how abruptly it ended?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No. I mean, obviously it's incredibly late here, but at the same time, utter silence. You may imagine that call could potentially happen later.

Look, I think it's important to remember some of the things Trump said seem to suggest that there was an element of a deal, or some kind of idea that he had to put to Zelenskyy, because he said, It's going to be up to Zelenskyy how he feels about that, and something he also needed to explain to the Europeans. But you could just tell, from his postures, gestures, he didn't think he was going to see much success there.

So, it feels to me, potentially, like Putin may have suggested some sort of proposal, some kind of peace idea that Trump immediately knew wasn't going to get off the ground at all. We'll probably hear more details about that tomorrow. That may also explain Putin's sort of slightly threatening comments and making sure that Europe didn't get in the way of progress on this particular front.

But look, there's one big victory for Putin here, outside of the clear rehabilitation on the world stage that made many Ukrainians grimace, as they saw him being given a red-carpet welcome, sitting side by side inside The Beast with President Trump. And that's time.

[21:10:00]

Now, can't stress how significant it is, if Putin is able to find himself, another month or two to stave off secondary sanctions that clearly had an impact on Moscow's thinking, after the Indians and the Chinese rang Putin ahead of those sanctions, potentially coming into play, and then he agreed to this bilateral meeting.

Time is important, day by day, and that's the pace at which villages are changing hands, places you've never heard of. But slowly, the more of them that fall to Russia, the more potential there is for a strategic change along the front line.

And so, the Donetsk region, which many felt was something, Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy, was told by the Kremlin that they wanted to see Ukraine voluntarily withdraw from, for a ceasefire. Well, week by week that's increasingly in Russian hands.

We're unclear when the tipping point is going to be, but there are a number of key towns along the front line that are under intense Russian pressure right now. He may only need till the end of September, or early October, to make wider effect here, some of his military advances, and he certainly seems to have bought himself more time here, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: And that was time he did not seem to have just last week.

Nick Paton Walsh, in Kyiv, thank you for that.

Also I want to check in on the ground in Moscow. That's where CNN's Fred Pleitgen is, as obviously we are waiting to see the Russian leader return home with his respective delegation.

Fred, what's the word there, about how they felt about everything that Nick just was talking out there. Sitting side by side in The Beast, this audience that Putin had with the U.S. President today, something he has not had with a U.S. leader since he invaded Ukraine.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, the Russians absolutely loved the whole way that went down, especially all the ceremonies that happened at the beginning of that meeting.

President Putin and President Trump almost landing at the same time. And then, of course, President Trump waiting and applauding President Putin, as he was walking towards him on that red carpet.

That was quite interesting, because the spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, she then made a post on her social media saying that, Look, for years, people have been saying that Russia is isolated on the international stage, and now you see Vladimir Putin on the red carpet. So clearly, the Russians are saying, Look, Russia is back. Vladimir Putin is back. And Vladimir Putin certainly has a say in how things are moving forward.

It's quite interesting, because as we just went to air, Kaitlan, there was actually the first comment coming from Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Vladimir Putin. And one of the things that he was asked is why no questions were taken at that press conference that, of course, you were at.

And the reason that he gave was because he said that there were exhaustive statements that were made by both leaders. He then said, I think this is quite important, just to see the sort of Russian perspective on all this, The conversation is really very positive, and the two presidents spoke about it. This is the very conversation that allows us to confidently continue moving forward together on the path of seeking resolution options.

That's seeming to allude to the conflict in Ukraine. But of course, if we look at the press conference, and especially the remarks that Vladimir Putin made, it certainly seemed as though he was talking about a broader reset of U.S.-Russia relations, and of course, Ukraine, being one of the issues, where not really clear how much headway was actually made there, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Yes, and it certainly did not seem exhaustive, I will say, in the room, especially given these are two leaders who often speak at length.

Fred Pleitgen, thanks for that initial reaction out of Moscow tonight.

And my next source is the former United States Ambassador to NATO. Kurt Volker is joining me now. He was also the Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, in Trump's first term. And Volker testified as part of the first House impeachment trial inquiry into President Trump.

And so, it's great to have you here, sir.

As we're looking at this summit and what happened there, I wonder what you believe U.S. allies are -- or what allies are thinking tonight, in Europe, with all this talk of potential land swapping from Trump, other possible concessions, though they haven't had any concessions that Putin would have to make here. Do they feel good about seeing what happened? Or how do they see this?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW, CENTER FOR EUROPEAN POLICY ANALYSIS: Well, it's a great question, Kaitlan.

And first off, this is a completely unsurprising outcome. This is exactly what anyone should have expected, like you and I talked about this last night.

As far as where our allies are, they are happy that Trump did not try to promise Ukrainian secessions of land and recognition of Russia's acquisitions of Ukrainian territory. This is basically neutral, as far as they're concerned. And because they were worried that Trump might do that, this is actually seen positively. They're happy that we got past this.

The downside, though, is the only thing that happened today is Putin succeeded in deflecting the conversation away from pressure on Russia, and he bought more time for himself, and for Russia, to continue this military aggression that they've got.

[21:15:00] So, no surprises here. But I think Europe is saying, OK, we're back where we were, before a couple of days ago, and we still have all this work to do.

COLLINS: What does it tell you that they -- because you and I talked last night, maybe there'd be some bright, shiny object when it came to a business deal, or an investment, or some kind of, you know, something on that nature. And they both brought finance members of their team there today.

What does it say to you that they skipped that part of the summit today, the working lunch that was going to include all of those aides. Instead, what we know right now is just those intensive, about three hours of meetings with their key team members.

VOLKER: Yes. Well, we don't know whether those aides met separately on the side or not. That could have happened.

But I think what happened here is that Putin wanted to dangle bright, shiny objects in front of Trump to say, You can make a lot of money with us if you convince the Ukrainians to let go, convince the Ukrainians to end -- to just cede the ground.

And Trump did the same thing. He said, Look, Putin, we can help you. We can make your economy strong again, but you have to end the war first.

Neither one of them agreed to either of those things, and as a result, we have no outcome.

So, when President Trump, in the press conference today, talks about, We agree to a lot of things, just not the big thing? That's what he's talking about. We both want U.S. and Russia, according to Trump's account here, We both want to get back to doing business, to making money, to building our economies together. But the thing we don't agree on is the war in Ukraine, which is actually the big thing.

COLLINS: The President did not take our questions. He and Putin left the stage rather quickly, after those statements that are being described in Russia, as exhaustive. But he did have a pre-scheduled interview with Sean Hannity, who had come here with him.

I want you to listen, we just got new sound from that, of the President's assessment of how this summit with Putin went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We had a very good meeting today, but we'll see. I mean, it's, you know, you have to get a deal. We agreed on a lot of points.

I want to see people stop dying in Ukraine. And that's what's happening. We're losing 5,000, 6,000, 7,000. They're Russians, mostly Russians, and they are Ukrainian soldiers. There's some people dying in cities and towns where they're trying to blow up missile manufacturers and other things. In some cities, I don't know if you know, what's going on there, but there are a lot of people dying. And if we can end that war, it would be very good.

And I was very happy to hear him say, if I was president, that war would have never happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: That part there he's referencing is -- you're laughing, or what did you -- what did you make of that?

VOLKER: Yes. Well, I heard that. I heard that earlier today too. This is Putin knowing what to say to please Trump. Putin is a trained KGB guy. He knows how to read somebody. Trump says, every time he goes out, This war would have never happened if I was president. So all Putin has to say is, yes, he's right, this war would have never happened if he was president. And that pleases Trump.

But the reality is, Putin launched this war, because he wanted to rebuild the Russian empire. He still wants to rebuild the Russian empire. And now he's using this meeting with President Trump and others to try to continue to advance that goal.

COLLINS: And he could end the war, tomorrow, if he wanted to, despite what he said today.

VOLKER: Sure.

COLLINS: Ambassador Kurt Volker, it is always great to have your expertise. Thank you for joining us tonight.

VOLKER: Thanks so much, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Up next here for us. It's a cordial summit, an invitation to talk further. But the President is leaving here without the ceasefire that he wanted to get, as Putin is leaving with the recognition that he was seeking.

My next source tonight is the former National Security Adviser, Susan Rice. She'll join me, right after this.

[21:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Welcome back to Anchorage, Alaska, where that highly- anticipated summit, between President Trump, and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, has now ended. Both leaders have departed.

No ceasefire deal when it comes to the Ukraine war, though, as Trump acknowledged on the way here, even his own advisers told him it was unlikely.

Neither leader took questions after their long, nearly three-hour meeting.

But in a new interview tonight, the President declined to share what he said was the big sticking point in today's talks. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: In your press conference, you talked about a lot of things that you agreed on, and maybe one big issue you don't agree on. Are you prepared to go public with that?

TRUMP: No, I'd rather not. I guess somebody is going to go public with it. They'll figure it out. But no, I don't want to do that. I want to see if we can get it done. You know, it's still -- it's not a done deal at all. And Ukraine has to agree. I mean, you know, President Zelenskyy has to agree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: My next source tonight served as the National Security Adviser under President Barack Obama. Ambassador Susan Rice.

And it's great to have you here.

I don't -- you weren't in the room, I know. But if you had to guess, what would you assume that that big sticking point could be?

SUSAN RICE, FORMER OBAMA NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS UNDER OBAMA: Well, it's good to be with you, Kaitlan.

[21:25:00]

Who knows? It could be security guarantees. It could be territorial desires of Putin. It could be ruling out NATO membership. I mean, there are all sorts of potential Trump -- excuse me, Putin demands that Trump may not have yet been willing to agree to.

But I think the big takeaway, from this day's events, is this was a real victory for Vladimir Putin. He came to the United States, for the first time in almost two decades, outside of the U.N. He literally got the red carpet rolled out for him. Donald Trump greeted him with applause and clapping, and a military flyover, and then invited him into the Presidential limousine to ride together to the meeting, which is very unusual, to say the least, particularly for an adversarial leader.

And then, Putin gave up (inaudible) no willingness to soften his war demands. He reiterated everything he's always said before, using his familiar terminology, Root causes. He wants to bring Ukraine to its knees.

And Trump got nothing, but Putin walked away with no further sanctions on Russia or any of Russia's major trading partners who have enabled him in the war. He got the red carpet treatment, and the ability to say he's welcome back in the international community. It was quite extraordinary.

COLLINS: Well, and to see that moment, the two of them getting into The Beast, they were side by side, and one-on-one, as the White House later confirmed there weren't any translators in the car as well as we saw that moment playing out. And then they went behind closed doors for hours. And Putin came out and still talked about the root causes in Ukraine. That is basically a synonym for his grievances of a sovereign country.

Was there anything in Putin's remarks that stood out to you that said maybe he's shifted his calculus, or seeing the reality on the ground, given Trump has been pretty frustrated with him lately, in public?

RICE: Absolutely nothing that Putin said suggests that he's in any way softened his position.

And Trump didn't press on the key concern of which is, what is going to happen in Ukraine? Are people going to stop dying? Will Putin ultimately, and finally agree to a ceasefire without ridiculous preconditions? And it sounds like on all of those counts, the answer is no.

So, I think, obviously, it's important for President Trump to consult with Zelenskyy, consult with the European leaders and NATO. But it's not clear at all that there's any there, there.

And Kaitlan, you would know better than I, but when was the last time Donald Trump had a big orchestrated televised event, and didn't take questions? I'm curious what you make of that. But it seems very strange to me, and seems to underscore that there really wasn't much to say that was in any way positive.

COLLINS: We were quite surprised in the room, because Trump does not shy away from taking questions almost ever. Whether it's in the Oval Office or something quick or whatnot. I thought he was actually ushering Putin off stage, and then he was going to take our questions, but then he left the stage as well. So that stood out to me.

But can I ask you, though? Because I do think going into this, some European leaders were fearing the worst, and fearing that this would be a Helsinki redo, where Trump came out, or -- he did make all these agreements, or fully back up Putin. And he didn't do that. So do you think there is a sense in Europe right now that it could have been worse than maybe just giving Putin, a boost on the world stage?

RICE: I would say in Europe, the sentiment is likely it was bad, but it could have been worse.

I mean, the bad part was, rehabilitating Putin on the global stage and giving him the warm embrace.

It could have been worse, in that the meeting that was originally meant to be one-on-one was, thankfully, a three-on-three, so that there were two other Americans in the room, in addition to the translators. They did have that one-on-one time in the limousine, and that always raises questions. But that piece could have been worse.

[21:30:00]

And then, Trump could have cut some deal about Ukraine without Ukraine. And it sounds like, instead, he understood that it was necessary to go, and -- go back to Zelenskyy, and the European leaders, to share what came out of this meeting. And he was clear that there's not a deal until there's a deal, and the Ukrainians and the Europeans have to agree. So, on that score, I'd say there's probably some measure of relief in Europe.

But a better outcome would have been to have a meeting that wasn't on American soil, so you didn't give Putin, the whole gift before he gave anything up which he didn't. It would have been better still, had the meeting included Zelenskyy from the outset, and had been preceded by the kind of hard preparation that typically national security teams do, before a meeting of this significance.

COLLINS: Yes. Yes, I love to see, obviously, what the European leaders say after their call with President Trump.

Ambassador Susan Rice, great to have you as always. Thank you.

RICE: Thank you.

COLLINS: And up next here for us on THE SOURCE. The President's goal of brokering a ceasefire in the war obviously did not materialize today. There are serious questions about what could happen next, what needs to happen to get a deal done, obviously, as lives are hanging in the balance on the battlefield. That's next.

[21:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Welcome back to Anchorage, Alaska, where President Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, have both ended their nearly three- hour summit, just with vague statements on progress that they cited that they made, but no concrete plan or a ceasefire deal in Ukraine.

My next source on this tonight is CNN Senior Military Analyst, Admiral James Stavridis, who's a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, and is also a Partner at the Carlyle Group, which is a global investment firm.

And it's great to have you here, sir.

We've been talking this week about what our expectations were, for this meeting, for this summit. After seeing it today, what did you make of that?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, BOARD MEMBER FOR ANKURA, FORTINET, AON, CONSULTS FOR BEACON GLOBAL STRATEGIES: I'm sad. I truly hoped that there would have been some kind of a ceasefire.

I think when we talked, maybe last night or the night before, Kaitlan, I said, at best, a one in four chance. It didn't come through. I suppose, in the end, I was expecting something like this, three out of four chance we were going to essentially get nothing out of this.

So, the question becomes, in my view, not whether it's a big deal that Vladimir Putin came to the United States or not, came to Alaska, whether he got a red carpet. In the end, none of that is very important. What's important is what happens next.

And so, I hope President Trump will take this as a sign that Vladimir Putin continues to kind of rope-a-dope, in President Trump's words, to tap him along. And in that case, I think it's time for President Trump to take some stern measures, some serious measures, which he said he would do a day or so ago.

COLLINS: If you are a European leader? Because Trump's going to get on the phone with the NATO allies tonight. How would -- how would you advise them to talk to him about this meeting?

Because I do think his perception of things -- I mean, he's calling it a good meeting, in that interview he did. But his perception could be shaped by other people saying, Putin maybe was just stringing you along, or buying himself more time for his war.

STAVRIDIS: What the Europeans ought to say to President Trump is, Thank you. Thank you for trying. Thank you for sitting down with this war criminal. Now let's stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and put serious consequences on Vladimir Putin.

And those ought to include confiscation of $300 billion in Russian assets that are in western banks, probably another $10 billion in U.S. banks. It ought to include secondary sanctions on those who choose to continue to do business with Vladimir Putin. It ought to include additional offensive weapons purchased from the United States by Europeans supplied to the Ukrainians. It ought to include additional F-16 aircraft, Kaitlan. You know how important those have been.

Those are the kind of serious consequences that ought to flow from the meeting in which Vladimir Putin showed up, smiled for the cameras and flew home, without giving our President a shred of real recognition or a commendation (ph).

COLLINS: What's your sense of how today's meeting impacts the battlefield in Ukraine?

STAVRIDIS: That's really important question, right now, and I think it depends on the degree to which the United States, and the Europeans, come back from this meeting, and say, OK, Putin, we gave you a chance to move toward a negotiation, a settlement, toward diplomacy. You chose not to. Therefore, we, the Europeans and the United States, are going to put the tools in the hands of the Ukrainians, to stop Vladimir Putin's offense.

I think that probably will be the consequence here. And frankly, I don't see a big new Russian offensive coming successfully.

[21:40:00]

Final thought here, Kaitlan. Again, we need to keep in perspective Vladimir Putin's war aims. A lot of people have said, over the last few days, Oh, Russia, they're on the front foot. They're moving forward. Hey, they're grinding out a couple of kilometers a day. Putin's objective was to conquer this entire country. That's not happening. I don't see a big military advantage accruing to Putin, especially if the United States and Europe stand with Ukraine, in the recognition that Putin has shown us, he has very little interest in a diplomatic solution.

COLLINS: Yes, that's a great point.

Admiral James Stavridis, always great to have you on the show. Thank you for joining tonight.

More perspective now from my intelligence and political sources who are joining me.

Andrea Kendall-Taylor is the former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Russia at the National Intelligence Council, and a former senior CIA analyst.

And also here is David Axelrod, who is the former senior adviser to President Obama.

And Andrea, I want to start with you, because we heard from Russian officials saying these talks could go six to seven hours, earlier.

Obviously, we were in the room, thinking we saw one more set of meetings to go, and I had a White House aide say, All right, time to take your seat for the press conference. And then, obviously, very quickly, the two world leaders emerged.

What did you make of how long it was going and then just how abruptly everything ended?

ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR, FMR. DEP. NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER FOR RUSSIA & EURASIA AT DNI, FMR. SENIOR CIA ANALYST WORKING ON RUSSIA AND EURASIA: Well, I do agree that it went much shorter than we all expected. But looking at the outcome, I think that the Russians have to be pretty happy with the way that this went.

I agree with many of the previous guests that this was largely a win for Russia. One of the first things that President Putin said was that it was a useful meeting.

And I think it was exceptionally useful to the Russians. They essentially got everything they wanted, which was, first of all, Putin had a very warm welcome on U.S. soil. He got to stand next to the U.S. President, and reiterate his misplaced views of what this war is about.

I think there's a chance that he'll be effective in driving a wedge between the U.S. on the one hand, and the Europeans and Ukrainians on the other, because he made that thinly-veiled kind of threat to the Europeans and Ukrainians that they should not torpedo any agreement that the U.S. and Russia have come to. And finally, he evaded sanctions.

And so, in many ways, this really was the traditional Russian negotiation playbook--

COLLINS: Yes.

KENDALL-TAYLOR: --where it's a yes, but. And then Putin gets to attach all of the details and conditions, in order to buy more time, so that he can continue to prosecute the war in Ukraine.

COLLINS: Yes. And, of course, avoided sanctions for now. We'll see if that changes.

David Axelrod, there's one moment that I know Trump liked, and I imagine -- I want to play it for everybody, because I know, this is going to be something that we do hear, Trump reference, back in Washington. It was this comment from President Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUTIN (through translator): Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the president back then, there will be no war, and I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Oh yes.

COLLINS: Putin saying he can confirm that there would be no war, had Trump been President. What did you make of that moment?

AXELROD: I made of it that here was a master manipulator who understood his mark, and he understood -- he tickled every one of Trump's funny bones in this -- in this statement to the media, and of course, Trump embraced that warmly.

The thing that disturbed me was, in the interview with Sean Hannity, Trump gave the meeting a 10 out of 10, and he said it was a 10 out of 10, because, I think we got along well. Like, it was some sort of computer -- some sort of internet dating thing, first date.

This wasn't about that. He flew out saying that this was about trying to get a ceasefire, and if he didn't get it, there would be serious consequences. And I heard Admiral Stavridis -- Stavridis talk about the list of things that should be done. I agree with him that this -- it's the list of things that should be done.

There was nothing about the President's comments, either in front of the media, or on Hannity, that would suggest that he's leaving with any conviction to do any of those things.

So once again, Vladimir Putin slips away without any consequences, even though the President threatens them periodically. And what message does that send to a guy, who is aggressive and belligerent? What it sends -- the message it sends is, You can get away with it, so just keep on going.

COLLINS: Yes. We'll see if he does. [21:45:00]

David Axelrod. Andrea Kendall-Taylor. Great to have you both. In addition to the Admiral here tonight.

Up next. Coming out of the summit, there was no agreement on a ceasefire. We did see this red carpet welcome, applause from President Trump. One question is, what message that sent to the Ukrainians? I'm going to speak to the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, for his thoughts, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:50:00]

COLLINS: As presidents Trump and Putin wrapped up today's summit, we heard the Russian leader, with a warning for Ukraine and its European allies, telling them not to interfere with the progress that Putin claimed he made with his American counterpart, here in Anchorage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUTIN (through translator): We expect that Kyiv and European capitals will perceive all this in a constructive manner, and will not create any obstacles, will not make attempts to disrupt the emerging progress through provocations and behind-the-scenes intrigues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: My source tonight is the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst.

And it's great to have you here, sir.

I want you to listen to something that the President -- President Trump just said, in terms of what Ukraine he believe -- he believes needs to do next here. Listen to Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know, one or two pretty significant items, but I think they can be reached. Now it's really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done. And I would also say, the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit. But it's up to President Zelenskyy.

I think we are -- and if they'd like, I'll be at that next meeting. They're going to set up a meeting now, between President Zelenskyy and President Putin, and myself, I guess, you know? I didn't even -- I didn't ask about it. Not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done, and we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Mr. Ambassador, what did you make of Trump putting the onus on Zelenskyy there? JOHN HERBST, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE, SR. DIRECTOR, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S EURASIA CENTER: Well, we've seen this before, and we've seen also President Trump move away from that as more details become apparent.

Right now, we really don't know what Putin offered Trump, to explain why Trump described the meeting as productive. There have been a few, I'd say, rumors out, but I haven't seen anything real.

I suspect that after Trump calls NATO, and Trump calls Zelenskyy, real details will become apparent, and then we'll know whether Putin offered something real or more -- more bogus progress, and then we will have a better sense as to what actually happened in Anchorage, a few hours ago.

COLLINS: Yes, and Putin the other day, though, seemed really dismissive of the idea of meeting with Zelenskyy. He said, basically, Certain conditions had to be met, those conditions had not been met.

Do you think that we will see a three-way meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump, and Putin, anytime soon?

HERBST: I don't rule it out first and foremost, because Zelenskyy has been eager for such a meeting. But the, you might say, the public posturing before such a meeting will determine what might occur there.

So again, if Putin's really offering nothing in the way of a compromise? And so far, we've seen nothing publicly. And we've seen Trump turn -- excuse me -- Putin turn down numerous offers which Zelenskyy has approved. So if we see that? Then I suspect, if there is a third summit -- I mean, a second summit, involving Zelenskyy, this time, it will go nowhere. And I think that President Trump will ultimately not be in a position to push Zelenskyy to make an unsatisfactory peace.

COLLINS: We'll see what happens.

Ambassador John Herbst, great to have you. So thank you for joining us tonight.

HERBST: My pleasure. Thank you.

COLLINS: Up next here for us, in Alaska, before we go, what we heard from the President -- thank you, sir -- as he's on his way back to the nation's capital, already looking ahead to another meeting, potentially with President Putin. Our final takeaways, with this summit, on the ground.

[21:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Back on the ground tonight, in Anchorage, Alaska. After an hours-long summit, between President Trump and President Putin, on the war in Ukraine, no ceasefire was announced, no questions were taken by the two leaders. Though President Trump says that numerous points were agreed to, but he added himself, quote, "There's no deal until there's a deal."

Joining me now is Jasmine Wright, who is a Politics Reporter for NOTUS, and was also at the press conference with us today, at the military installation.

I wonder what you just took away from being in the room, and watching how this all played out.

JASMINE WRIGHT, POLITICS REPORTER, NOTUS: Yes, I mean, it was pretty shocking when he and President Putin walked off stage. I think I can count on my hand, a number of times, when President Trump, in an environment like that, with reporters shouting and raising their hands, did not take questions. And so, that was pretty remarkable.

But I think it's reflective of the fact that there is no deal. Even though Putin says, they're in (ph) agreement, Donald Trump multiple times now has said that there is no deal.

I think that the White House believes that there could be a deal, down the line. Of course, he's put the onus on President Zelenskyy, to make some movement. He said that he would be at a meeting if they wanted him there. So maybe they don't want to telegraph what's been talked about. But it's certainly going to come out.

And so there's a lot of questions that the White House has to answer. Donald Trump just hasn't done it tonight. Even when asked by Sean Hannity, if he wanted to divulge what progress this had made, he said, I don't want to go public with it.

COLLINS: Which I thought was especially notable, because Trump is not someone who, really, holds his cards close to his vest. He's usually pretty, quite open with--

WRIGHT: Yes.

COLLINS: --how he views something or what they talked about, specifically. He didn't name any concessions--

WRIGHT: Yes.

COLLINS: --that Putin was prepared to make or anything like that.

WRIGHT: Yes, and he talks about it pretty openly, especially when he's proud of something. Obviously, we've heard him continuously talk about the seven wars that he has ended while in office, hoping to make this number eight. And so, I think him not talking about what was discussed, and what progress was made, was notable.

Now, of course, we're going to have to see down the line what happens, what reporting comes out of that meeting. But I certainly believe that the White House is not going to be done with Ukraine. They're going to continue.

[22:00:00]

Donald Trump told Sean Hannity, earlier, that he didn't believe that consequences had to be put on Putin just yet, because of the progress in this meeting. But he said, that may change in a few weeks.

COLLINS: Which is kind of the fear that some European leaders had, that Putin was just trying to buy himself more time, by even suggesting this summit. We'll see if there's a second one.

WRIGHT: Exactly.

COLLINS: Jasmine Wright, fun being there with you today, at the military base. As obviously we're watching all this play out.

And also, a special shout-out to all of the soldiers on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, who were excellent hosts today, and so gracious with their time, for the American press corps that was there. Thanks to them.

Thank you for joining us.

"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts now.