In a few short hours in Alaska, Vladimir Putin managed to convince Donald Trump that a Ukraine ceasefire was not the way to go, stave off U.S. sanctions, and spectacularly shatter years of Western attempts to isolate the Russian president.

During the joint press conference, both President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that they had reached agreement on some issues—without describing what they were. Putin then went

Any potential peace deal for Ukraine would need to involve agreement on territory, with Russia currently occupying almost a fifth of Ukraine’s land.

FROM THE moment he stepped off his plane onto the red-carpeted tarmac, the summit in Alaska was a triumph for Vladimir Putin. He was greeted with applause from his host, Donald Trump. The two men may have had nothing to announce after hours of talks—the first meeting between a Russian and American president since the invasion of Ukraine—but the encounter at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage transformed Mr Putin from a pariah of the West into an honoured guest on American soil.

President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met at a U.S. military base in Alaska amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

At their meeting in Alaska, President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia both understood the power of the summit’s imagery, even if their goals were not accomplished.