Trump, Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy
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Putin, Trump and summit
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Trump’s red-carpet rollout, excited clapping, friendly handshakes, and joint ride in “The Beast” limousine are being cited as proof by Putin allies that the Russian president is no longer the pariah the West has been painting him out to be since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In a shift, Trump now aligns more closely with Putin than allies in Europe in calling for final talks before a ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin got everything he could have hoped for in Alaska. President Donald Trump got very little — judging by his own pre-summit metrics.
The highly anticipated summit ended without a breakthrough. Afterwards, Trump said Ukraine and Russia should proceed straight to seeking a full peace deal instead of a cease-fire.
Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.
The interaction between the two leaders was closely watched not only for diplomatic outcomes, but also for the physical cues exchanged during their greeting.
US President Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin a special item at their Alaska summit: a letter written by his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, pleading for the Russian leader to make peace in the name of children.
One of the documents indicated Trump planned to give the Russian president an “American Bald Eagle Desk Statue.”