It was a welcome tailored for a close friend, not a war criminal, and it looked to the Ukrainians like their nightmare.

"I’m speechless. I have nothing to say. I really didn’t expect much, but this is even worse than I thought," Valchuk, 46, told USA TODAY. "That’s what I’m feeling right now."Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, met in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15 for one of the most consequential in-person summits in years. The meeting, which lasted for nearly three hours, ended without a concrete deal.

President Trump told reporters on Friday that he's willing to talk about business with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but said there would be no deals "until we get the war solved" in Ukraine.

More than a dozen protests broke out statewide as President Trump and Russian President Putin met on Anchorage’s military base.

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump Putin Alaska meet over Ukraine is raising eyebrows across Europe, with some analysts warning it could echo the 1945 Yalta Conference, when global powers redrew the continent’s map without its own leaders in the room.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was not invited to the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, but 1,000 Ukrainian refugees in Alaska will be watching with trepidation.