White House officials argued the Friday summit with Putin was a welcome door opening after Biden pushed U.S.-Russia relations to a new low.

US President Donald Trump is briefing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders about his summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin, German government sources told dpa on Saturday morning.

Trump and Putin met at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday afternoon to discuss an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which began more than three years ago. The pair announced “great progress” had been made, but they still did not reach any kind of plan to end the war.

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.

President Trump has ditched his demand for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine and appears ready to pressure Kyiv to cede territory to Moscow as part of a peace

US President Trump is leaning on Ukraine to accept a deal to end Europe’s deadliest war in 80 years. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Trump said after meeting with Putin in Alaska the “best way” to end Russia’s war with Ukraine is “to go directly to a peace agreement,” and not a “mere ceasefire agreement.”

As President Trump touched down in Anchorage on Friday to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over the war in Ukraine, that country’s leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, criticized continuing Russian strikes as a sign that Moscow was not prepared to end the conflict.

President Trump wants a deal that stops the fighting. But his view on what that deal could look like is often shifting. Initially, Trump wanted a cease-fire so that Ukraine and Russia could discuss peace terms.

The last time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was inside the Oval Office, he was berated by his US hosts, denied a planned luncheon and abruptly asked to leave the West Wing.

In Alaska, the Russian leader proposed that Ukraine hand over the remainder of the Donbas region to Moscow to stop the fighting.