'I was in the room when Trump and Putin held a press conference - 3 things shocked me'

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held their eagerly anticipated peace summit on Friday at the US military's Elmendorf-Richardson Joint Base. The Russian President was afforded a very warm welcome by his American host, who applauded him as he made his way along the tarmac from his plane.

The pair then posed for a picture and exchanged the first handshake since their last meeting in 2019 in front of the gathered press pack. Trump invited his beaming Kremlin guest to join him in his armoured car, known as the Beast, which whisked the two political supremos to the conference hall. After three hours of talks, the two leaders emerged to brief journalists on their momentous meeting.

The Russian President appeared to be the major winner of the day, having made no major concessions and having seemingly staved off the threat of more US sanctions.

Trump and Putin appeared for just 12 minutes to give their respective takes on the day's events.

The Daily Telegraph's deputy US editor Connor Stringer was one of those eagerly awaiting further details of the talks. He was struck by three particular things: the fact that Putin, rather than his host, spoke first during the conference, that Trump kept his remarks brief and that the pair refused to answer any questions from reporters.

"The first surprise of Mr Trump and Putin's post-summit press conference was that the Russian leader was the first to speak," he wrote.

"After the two men had taken their place behind their respective podiums, almost the entire room had their eyes fixed on Mr Trump, assuming that the US host would lead the conversation. So when Putin first opened his mouth, you could almost hear the sounds of heads whipping towards the Russian leader.

"Mr Trump eventually followed suit, and for the first time in his second term, spoke very briefly.

"Twelve minutes later, it was all over. The press pack, who had flown more than 2,000 miles to the most remote state capital in America in the hopes of witnessing history, were left shouting into the abyss. Colleagues looked around in bewilderment."

Since the summit, reports have emerged that the US President reportedly told European leaders that he was in favour of a plan to end the war through granting territorial concessions to Russia.

European officials told the New York Times that Trump believes a peace deal can be swiftly negotiated, "so long as Mr Zelensky agrees to cede the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops".