Donald Trump on Saturday abandoned his push for a cease-fire in Ukraine and instead vowed to pursue a full peace accord, marking a major shift just hours after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin ended without a breakthrough.
Before the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump, who had threatened "severe consequences" on Russia, and European leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will now visit Washington on Monday.
The shift away from cease-fire would seem to favor Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal – a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticized as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances.
Trump spoke with Zelenskyy and European leaders on his flight back to Washington, saying afterward that "it was 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."
Ceasefire agreements "often times do not hold up," Trump added on his Truth Social platform.
