After leaving Alaska, Trump says he would prefer to "go directly to a peace agreement" to end the war in Ukraine as he prepares to meet Zelensky on Monday.

It was a welcome tailored for a close friend, not a war criminal, and it looked to the Ukrainians like their nightmare.

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia met Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, for the first face-to-face meeting between American and Russian leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

Trump and Putin “looked like buddies” during their initial greetings in Alaska Friday – but the dynamic had shifted by the end of their visit, according to a body language expert.

It only makes sense that we’ve met here, because our countries though separated by the ocean are close neighbors,” Putin said in Anchorage.

The meeting between the U.S. president and the Russian leader didn’t appear to yield any breakthroughs.

In a shift, Trump now aligns more closely with Putin than allies in Europe in calling for final talks before a ceasefire

B-2 bomber and F-35s stage an impressive flyover watched by hundreds of thousands online as Trump and Putin meet in Anchorage.A U.S. Air Force B-2A Spirit

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Friday in their high-stakes summit seeking a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, but while Putin mentioned an "agreement" in the post-meeting news conference and Trump said "great progress" was made,

The net effect of the Alaska summit was to give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending talks on a broader peace deal.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will measure success at their summit in Alaska very differently, even as both leaders are already looking toward a second meeting.

Achieving a peace agreement is an even higher bar than the ceasefire that has eluded the Trump administration in recent months.