At what was billed as an “historic” presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun.

In Alaska, military parader President Donald Trump literally had U.S. soldiers on their knees to roll out the red carpet for wanted war criminal Vladimir Putin, who Trump greeted with applause as Putin played him like a pawn.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is bringing with him to the the White House an extraordinary cadre of European leaders to show U.S. President Donald Trump a united front against Russia.

With Alaska in the rear-view mirror, Donald Trump is walking into a very different situation as he returns to work at the White House this week. His summit with Vladimir Putin is over, though the fallout continues.

Evacuees at a shelter in eastern Ukraine reacted angrily to talk that land that has long been theirs could be given to Russia in exchange for peace.

Trump on Sunday said “big progress” had been made with Russia on the Ukraine conflict, as envoy Witkoff outlined that Russian President Vladimir Putin signalled for the first time he could accept Nato-style security guarantees for Kyiv.

President Donald Trump said on social media Saturday that a deal better than “a mere Ceasefire” is in the works with Vladimir Putin, hours after Trump’s high-stakes summit with the Russian leader in Alaska failed to produce an agreement to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to UK newspaper The Telegraph, offering Alaskan natural resources to Russia could be part of a peace deal in Ukraine.