Pomp but little progress at Trump's Ukraine talks

What happened

A meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and a White House summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders left Trump seemingly no closer to a deal to end the Ukraine war this week, with the Kremlin rebuffing his call for direct peace talks between Putin and Zelensky and Ukraine rejecting Moscow's demand that it surrender a vast swathe of territory. In a show of support for Zelensky—whose last visit to the White House ended in a blowup with Trump and Vice President JD Vance—European leaders including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz converged on the White House for his meeting with Trump. The U.S. president greeted Zelensky and the Europeans warmly and pledged that the U.S. would "be involved" in security guarantees sought by Ukraine as part of any deal. He later clarified that U.S. support would be limited to airpower with Europe putting "people on the ground." But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said any discussion of security guarantees "without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere."

At the Alaska summit with Putin, Trump made numerous shows of deference to the accused war criminal. He rolled out a red carpet and applauded as Putin walked it, had fighter jets fly overhead, and planned a luncheon "in honor of his excellency"—which Putin snubbed. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the display "vomit inducing." To secure a peace deal, Putin said Ukraine would have to surrender its entire eastern Donbas region, including areas still under Ukrainian control; Ukraine's constitution bars the surrender of land except through a national referendum. After the meeting, Trump put the onus on Ukraine to make concessions, saying Zelensky "can end the war almost immediately, if he wants to."

Following the White House summit, Trump said he'd called Putin to begin arrangements for a meeting between the Russian leader and Zelensky. In comments to Macron captured on a hot mic, Trump expressed optimism, saying of Putin, "I think he wants to make a deal for me." But Lavrov dismissively referred to Zelensky as "this character" and said any meeting would have to be reached "step by step, gradually." It's "possible," Trump told Fox News, that Putin "doesn't want to make a deal."

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What the editorials said

With their show of solidarity—and some skillful Trump "flattery"—Zelensky and his European allies averted a "diplomatic disaster," said the Financial Times. The leaders flew en masse to Washington for fear "Trump would rail-road Zelensky into a bad deal or punish him for rejecting one." That dire scenario was avoided, but Trump still abandoned his pre-Alaska stance that Russia must sign an immediate cease-fire, and it's far from clear the Kremlin will agree to his touted sit-down. But "in Trump's peacemaking show, optics matter more than substance."

The summit did yield "some good news," said The Wall Street Journal: Trump's first assertion that the U.S. will help provide security guarantees to Ukraine. That's important: A deal without a credible deterrent will result in Putin restarting the war after he's re-armed. Trump "offered no specifics and the details will matter." But his pledge to offer "a lot of help" was a welcome sign that he understands "what it will take to gain a durable peace," and that America has a strong interest in a stable Europe.

What the columnists said

The Alaska spectacle was "an embarrassment," said Harlan Ullman in The Hill. He invited the autocratic thug—"under warrant for war crimes"—onto U.S. soil, greeted him affectionately, and pulled him into his presidential car for a ride. Trump couldn't comprehend that this chummy display "would not have any effect on Putin." When they made their post-meeting appearance, where no agreement was announced, Trump "appeared old, tired, and deflated," and mumbled about Russiagate. Putin, meanwhile, appeared emboldened, holding forth on the "primary causes" of a conflict wrought by his own naked aggression.

Putin's proposed Donbas land grab is something Zelensky can't possibly accept, said Cathy Young in The Bulwark, "for both military and political reasons." Any shift in borders would have to be approved by a referendum, and "despite war weariness," more than 80% of Ukrainians reject ceding territory to Russia. And the Donetsk region includes "heavily fortified" defensive positions; surrendering them would "open the way to a new Russian attack" that Putin would stage sooner or later.

Despite the flurry of diplomatic action, it's easy to overlook "that nothing meaningful has changed" in the war, said Andreas Kluth in Bloomberg. Even as hands were shaken in D.C., Putin continued to bomb civilians, detain children, and otherwise "terrorize a sovereign nation." The diplomatic spectacles played out like reality TV, "not quite substantive but always performative." As we watched "the show unfold," the war Trump once promised to end in 24 hours raged on, with Ukrainians "bleeding, crying, and dying" at Putin's hand.

Trump's desire to end the bloodshed is "commendable," said Thomas L. Friedman in The New York Times. Less so is the "seat-of-the-pants, often farcical way he is going about it." Even worse, it seems clear Trump—desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize—doesn't get what the "Ukraine war is truly about." He doesn't get that Putin, still smoldering from the breakup of the Soviet Union, is out to "break up the West." He doesn't get that Putin is no friend, but "a cold-blooded murderer." And even though 1.4 million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded to satisfy "Putin's fevered dreams" of restoring the Russian Empire, Trump still doesn't understand that Putin "wants not peace, but victory."

What next?

The question of whether Putin will deign to meet with Zelensky now takes "center stage," said Thomas Grove and Matthew Luxmoore in The Wall Street Journal. Any agreement "won't likely come quickly—or easily." Putin has repeatedly questioned Zelensky's legitimacy, belittled him as a stooge of the West, and insisted that "various complex issues be solved" before a one-on-one summit. Moreover, a meeting with Zelensky "could end the delicate dance Putin has performed around Trump's peace efforts," where he professes his "desire for peace while escalating offensives." To bolster Zelensky's position before any possible meeting, European leaders are trying to flesh out a package of security guarantees, said Ellen Milligan in Bloomberg. At a gathering this week, European officials discussed a plan to dispatch British and French troops to Ukraine as part of a peace deal, with about 10 countries in total standing "ready to send forces to the war-battered nation." But "the nature of any U.S. support remains unclear."