The Russia and Ukraine summits show potential to push for peace

The president should emphasize U.S. willingness to continue to sell weapons to Kyiv if no peace deal is reached

- MIKHAIL ALEXSEEV GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

ANNA MONEYMAKER Getty Images PRESIDENT TRUMP welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.

BY HOSTING AN unprecedented short-notice summit with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and key European leaders on Monday, President Trump significantly raised the prospects for ending Russia’s three-and-a-half-year-long war against Ukraine.

The vibe at the opening was affable and positive. The participants genuinely looked determined to work out compromises that only afew weeks ago appeared illusory. It was a good sign for longterm Euro-Atlantic security cooperation in the face of challenges that, in Trump’s words, we have not faced since World War II. Toward the end, Trump’s call to Moscow brought a followup U.S.- Ukraine-Russia summit within reach.

But the rising expectations also reveal formidable obstacles on the path to peace. As the world’s leaders were heading to Washington, Putin’s forces unleashed 182 infantry assaults, 152 massive glide bombs, more than 5,100 artillery rounds and 5,000 kamikaze drones on Ukraine's defenses and 140 longrange drones and four Iskander ballistic missiles on Ukraine’s cities. The attacks claimed at least 10 civilian lives, including a small child. This is how Russia attacks Ukraine daily, signaling disrespect for Trump’s diplomacy.