Trump appears to be on Putin's page

President agrees that a peace accord could be reached with Ukraine ceding land.

- BY MICHAEL WILNER

Anadolu via Getty Images

VLADIMIR PUTIN, center, shown with President Trump in Alaska, said points of agreement likely would face opposition across Europe.

President Trump made his expectations clear entering a summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday: "I won't be happy if I walk away without some form of a ceasefire," he said aboard Air Force One.

Yet he did, emerging from their meeting in a diplomatic retreat, endorsing Russia’s territorial ambitions and adopting Putin’s position that would put off ceasefire negotiations in favor of more comprehensive talks.

Trump told his European counterparts he had agreed with Putin's demand that Ukraine make territorial concessions to end the conflict, a painful prospect for Ukrainians at the heart of the war, a European official told The Times on Saturday.

Trump also wrote on social media that he would adopt the Kremlin line deferring talks on an imminent ceasefire.

"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 wrote on social media. "If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people's lives will be saved." It was a remarkable success for Putin, who sees a Russian edge on the battlefield and has put off discussions of a ceasefire for months as Russian forces press their advantage along the Ukrainian front lines.

Putin was greeted on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson with applause and smiles from the American president and offered a ride in his iconic vehicle. After years in isolation over his repeated invasions of Ukraine, facing an indictment from the International Criminal Court over war crimes, a red carpet awaited Putin on U.S. soil.