Trump Runs Into Difficulty Of Putin Diplomacy, Ending A Long War

President Donald Trump walked into a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin pressing for a ceasefire deal and threatening “severe consequences” and tough new sanctions if the Kremlin leader failed to agree to halt the fighting in Ukraine.

Instead, President Trump was the one who stood down, dropping his demand for a ceasefire in favor of pursuing a full peace accord — a position that aligns with President Putin's.

After calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, President Trump wrote as he flew home from Friday's meeting in Alaska that it had been “determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”

It was a dramatic reversal that laid bare the challenges of dealing with President Putin, a cunning adversary, as well as the complexities of a conflict that President Trump had repeatedly boasted during his campaign that he could solve within 24 hours.

While European leaders were relieved that President Trump did not agree to a deal that favored Moscow, the summit allowed President Putin to reclaim his place on the world stage and may have bought Russia more time to push forward with its offensive in Ukraine.

“We're back to where we were before without him having gone to Alaska,” said Fiona Hill, who served as Trump's senior adviser on Russia at the National Security Council during his first term, including when he last met President Putin in Helsinki in 2018.

In an interview, Hill argued that President Trump had emerged from the meeting in a weaker position because of his reversal. Other leaders, she said, might now look at the US president and think he's “not the big guy that he thinks he is and certainly not the dealmaking genius.”

“All the way along, Trump was convinced he has incredible forces of persuasion,” she said, but he came out of the meeting without a ceasefire — the “one thing” he had been pushing for.

Trump administration officials defended the move.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff said on “ Fox News Sunday ” that President Trump had “talked about a ceasefire until he made a lot of different wins in this meeting and began to realize that we could be talking about a peace deal. The ultimate deal here is a peace deal.”

“We are intent on trying to hammer out a peace deal that ends the fighting permanently. Very, very quickly — quicker than a ceasefire,” he said on CNN.

At home, Democrats expressed alarm at what at times seemed like a day of deference, with President Trump clapping for President Putin as he walked down a red carpet during an elaborate ceremony welcoming him to the US for the first time in a decade. The two rode together in the presidential limousine and exchanged compliments.

President Trump seemed to revel in particular in President Putin echoing his oft-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine if President Trump had been in office instead of Democrat Joe Biden at the time.

Before news cameras, President Trump did not use the opportunity to castigate President Putin for launching the largest ground invasion in Europe since World War II or for human rights abuses he's been accused of committing. Instead, President Putin spoke first and invited President Trump to Moscow next.

“President Trump appears to have been played yet again by Vladimir Putin," said Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The President rolled out a red carpet and warmly greeted a murderous dictator on American soil and reports indicate he got nothing concrete in return.”

“If President Trump won't act, Congress must do so decisively by passing crushing sanctions when we return in the coming weeks,” she said.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said on NBC's “Meet the Press” that President Putin “got everything he wanted,” including a photo-op with President Trump.

“He is intentionally murdering civilians, he's kidnapping children, and now he got to stand next to the President of the United States — legitimized in the view of the world,” the Democrat said.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who often criticizes President Trump on foreign policy, commended his former boss for seeking peace.

“I think he deserves credit as leader of the free world for not giving up on Ukraine," he said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'

Trump has tried to cast himself as a peacemaker, taking credit for helping de-escalate conflicts between India and Pakistan as well as Thailand and Cambodia. He mediated a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and another between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to end decades of fighting.

President Trump has set his eye on the Nobel Peace Prize, with numerous allies offering nominations.

But President Trump has struggled to make headway on the world's two most vexing conflicts: the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

Republican lawmakers were largely reserved and generally called for continued talks and constructive actions from the Trump administration.

“President Trump brought Rwanda and the DRC to terms, India and Pakistan to terms, and Armenia and Azerbaijan to terms. I believe in our President, and believe he will do what he always does — rise to the challenge,” said Representative Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, wrote on social media after the summit that “while the press conference offered few details about their meeting," she was "cautiously optimistic about the signals that some level of progress was made."

Senator Murkowski said it “was also encouraging to hear both presidents reference future meetings," but that Ukraine “must be part of any negotiated settlement and must freely agree to its terms.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and close Trump ally, said he was “very proud” of the president for having the face-to-face meeting and was “cautiously optimistic” that the war might end “well before Christmas” if a trilateral meeting between President Trump, President Zelenskyy, and President Putin transpires.

President Zelenskyy plans to meet with President Trump on Monday in Washington, joined by European leaders.

“I have all the confidence in the world that Donald Trump will make it clear to Putin this war will never start again. If it does, you're going to pay a heavy price,” Senator Graham said on Fox News.

For some Trump allies, the very act of him meeting with President Putin was success enough: conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk called it “a great thing.”

In Europe, the summit was seen as a major diplomatic coup for President Putin, who has been eager to emerge from geopolitical isolation.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, praised the summit as a breakthrough in restoring high-level dialogue between Moscow and Washington.

Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt called the meeting “a distinct win for Putin. He didn't yield an inch,” but was also “a distinct setback for Trump. No ceasefire in sight.”

“What the world sees is a weak and wobbling America,” Bildt posted on X.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff disagreed.

“I think we ought to be focusing on what the end result is,” he said. “I think that we are a whole lot closer to eliminating death on the battlefield in Ukraine and Russia, and it's the overall goal.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)