FROM THE moment he stepped off his plane onto the red-carpeted tarmac, the summit in Alaska was a triumph for Vladimir Putin. He was greeted with applause from his host, Donald Trump. The two men may have had nothing to announce after hours of talks—the first meeting between a Russian and American president since the invasion of Ukraine—but the encounter at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage transformed Mr Putin from a pariah of the West into an honoured guest on American soil.

Trump says "some great progress" was made with Putin, and he will speak with European leaders and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky soon.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged warm words on Friday but left the much anticipated Alaska summit without an agreement to end Moscow's war against Ukraine and gave no details about what they discussed.