The Nightmare of a Trump-Putin Pact Isn't Over

A new Oval Office showdown with Zelensky looms after Alaska meeting.

- 

Before his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, US President Donald Trump reportedly called Norway's finance minister to float the idea that he should win a Nobel Prize once he had secured peace in Ukraine.

Instead, the summit has handed Mr. Putin what he wanted: a red carpet and a chance to boast that Russia's isolation is over even as he ramps up pressure on the battlefield. In return, Mr. Putin provided nothing: no ceasefire, no road map, not even a token concession. They spoke for three hours. Little detail has emerged of what, if anything, they have agreed.

For Mr. Trump, who had trailed the meeting as a chance to "end the killing," the optics are an embarrassment. For Ukraine and Europe, the moment of maximum danger is still to come.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has just agreed to go to Washington on Aug. 18, where Mr. Trump may try to force him to accept a final deal that favors Russia. After returning from Alaska to the White House, Mr. Trump emphasized this new, forthcoming meeting and declared 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."

As recently as on Aug. 1, Mr. Trump was thundering that he was disgusted with Mr. Putin for continuing his assault, and promising tough new measures, including sweeping secondary sanctions that would have hit Russia's economic enablers in China, Turkey, and elsewhere. India has already been penalized for buying Russian oil. The President even dispatched two nuclear submarines towards Russia.

But in Anchorage, the word "sanctions" was not uttered, and after the summit Mr. Trump said that they were off the table, for now at least. He talked approvingly about getting back to business with Russia.