From no-deal to Putin's deal? A flummoxing summit, a Trump flip

Vladimir Putin was smiling. Donald Trump was not.

When the leaders of Russia and the United States shook hands on stage after failing to reach a deal at their Alaska summit, President Trump had a look on his face that his four predecessors might have recognized after their own encounters with the former KGB agent who has defied the world in his determination to rebuild an empire.

Trump looked tired, annoyed and worried, his path ahead so uncharted that he uncharacteristically refused to take a single question from the phalanx of reporters raising their hands in front of him. Putin, who had a small smile on his face, was relaxed enough to teasingly suggest they next meet in Moscow − speaking in English, so no one would miss the point.

Hours after Air Force One landed back in Washington, though, Trump seemed revived, embracing a new and entirely different plan for peace. He jettisoned what until 24 hours earlier had been his first priority and a strategy supported by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO allies.

"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, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up," Trump said on the social-media platform Truth Social.

Which was, by the way, the approach that Putin had wanted all along.

Zelenskyy would meet with him at the White House on Aug. 18, Trump announced, to consider what happens next. The Ukrainian leader has consistently opposed peace talks without a ceasefire because it would give Russia a chance to press its battlefield advantage undeterred.

The fear among Ukraine's supporters is a replay of the last time the Ukrainian leader was in the Oval Office, in February. He was berated by the president and Vice President JD Vance for insufficient gratitude toward the United States for its help and for standing in the way of a peace agreement with Russia.

"Now it is really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done," Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News after the summit. Then a three-way meeting with Putin could follow.

For Putin, a limousine lift and a red-carpet welcome

There's no wonder why Putin looked pleased in Alaska.

The summit was a windfall for him, ending his isolation from the West since the Ukraine invasion with a red-carpet welcome and a rare ride in the back seat of the armored presidential limousine, nicknamed "The Beast." The Russian leader could be seen through the window talking and laughing with the president.

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He looked delighted to be back on U.S. soil for the first time in a decade.

Joined by two advisers each, they spoke for about three hours before skipping a planned luncheon and economic meeting, instead heading to a news-conference-without-questions.

Afterwards, the two leaders took separate cars back to the airfield.

The summit didn't achieve what Trump said beforehand he wanted most: A ceasefire. In their statements afterwards, the word "ceasefire" wasn't mentioned.

Trump also had set a series of deadlines for Russia to agree to progress or face secondary sanctions. The most recent deadline passed on Aug. 8, the day they agreed to meet in Alaska. After the summit, he didn't mention the word "sanctions" either.

By the next morning, after all, a "mere Ceasefire Agreement" was no longer the goal.

A campaign promise, now 200 days overdue

No major promise Trump made during the 2024 campaign has proved harder to deliver than his assurance that he could settle the grinding war in Ukraine in his first day in office, a confidence based largely on his relationship with Putin. But that was more than 200 days ago, and despite Trump's move from friendly entreaties to undefined threats of "very severe consequences,"Russia's attacks on Ukraine's armed forces and its civilians have not abated.

Despite the declaration "PURSUING PEACE" that was stamped on the blue backdrop behind the two men.

"So there's no deal until there's a deal," Trump told the expectant audience, an unhappy admission from a self-described master negotiator who titled his first book "The Art of the Deal." The flummox that showed on Trump's face at the Aug. 15 news conference would have been familiar to Barack Obama, who sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to meet with the Russian foreign minister with a red "Reset" button as a visual aid for a new era of relations, only to watch Moscow illegally annex Crimea in 2014. Or Joe Biden when Putin ignored his warnings and invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Or George W. Bush, when he watched events unfold after prematurely declaring after his first meeting with Putin in 2001 that he had "looked the man in the eye" and determined that he was "straightforward and trustworthy."

Those are not the adjectives presidents have generally used about Putin since then.

In contrast to his predecessors, though, Trump's tone toward Putin remained chummy even after the summit setback. "We got along great," he said, calling him "Vladimir."

Trump is still determined to strike a deal, whatever the details − and perhaps for more than one reason.

In the interview with Hannity, he touted his record as a peacemaker in conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Congo and Rwanda. He suggested a possible repercussion if he now orchestrates an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

"It's interesting," the president offered, " because somebody said, if I get this settled, I'll get the, you know, the Nobel Peace Prize."