August 17, 2025. On the heels of President Donald J. Trump's Friday meeting with Russia's President

Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, Trump will meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky Monday afternoon at the White House.

According to Barack Ravid of Axios, Trump called Zelensky from Air Force One on the way home from Alaska.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff were also on the hour-long call. The leaders of the

European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO,

and the United Kingdom, then joined the call for another half hour. In the call, Trump embraced Putin's view of the conflict,

telling Zelensky and European leaders that Putin does not want a ceasefire. Trump indicated that he

is abandoning his own demand for a ceasefire and adopting Putin's position that negotiation should

take place without one.

Zelensky insists on a ceasefire before negotiations.

After the call, Trump posted on social media 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, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which oftentimes do not hold up.

All is doing a lot of work in that sentence. It appears to mean Putin, with the possible agreement

now of Trump. Key unanswered questions from Friday's summit were why it ended so abruptly, with the cancellation

of a planned luncheon and more discussions, and why Trump immediately told Fox News Channel

personality Sean Hannity, because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about further sanctions on Russia now.

I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about that right now.

The abrupt cancellation could mean that U.S. officials sent Putin packing without lunch because he would not agree to a ceasefire.

But it seems worth keeping on the table that Trump has recently exhibited both an inability to focus on any topic

and a need to live in a carefully constructed world that ignores reality and assures him he is the best and the brightest.

A high-stakes meeting with principles about a very real situation might have been too much for him

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