Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service coming to you live from London.

I'm Julian Warwicka.

Today we'll hear from Ukraine where there's widespread trepidation about the conversations Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump had in Alaska.

Also... had in Alaska. Also, there's good news for howler monkeys and other somewhat quieter species of the

great Maya forest in Central America. A deal has been signed to preserve six million hectares of it.

Leaders in America, Russia and much of Europe have spent the last few hours

considering the implications of the historic summit in Alaska between President Trump and Putin.

It was an event big on memorable images, but, say critics, light on specific progress when it comes to ending the fighting in Ukraine.

There was a red carpet rolled out for Mr Putin as he arrived in Anchorage,

a warm handshake with his American opposite number, and then unexpectedly Mr. Putin was offered a chance to ride in the presidential limo to the talk's venue.

Afterwards, Mr Putin described the meeting as timely and very useful,

despite the two leaders failing to reach a deal on ending the war.

Well, neither man answered questions at the post-Summit press conference,

restricting their remarks to pre-prepared statements.

But President Trump then went on to

speak to Sean Hannity at Fox News. On a scale from one to ten, he rated the meeting as a 10.

We were together almost three hours, and it was very extensive. And we agreed on a lot of points.

I mean, a lot of points we're agreeing on. There's not that much as, you know, one or two pretty significant items, but I think they can be reached. Now it's really up to President Zelensky to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit. But it's up to President Zelensky. I think we are, and if they'd like, I'll be at that next meeting. They're going to set up a meeting now between President Zelensky and President Putin and myself, I guess, you know, I didn't even, I didn't ask you about it. Not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done. And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.

Well, he then wrote on social media that the best way to end the war is to go directly to a

peace deal and not what he called a mere ceasefire agreement.

The official reactions from leaders across Europe today lavished praise on Mr. Trump's aim

of ending the war, while reiterating that a US security guarantee for Ukraine remains essential for any future peace deal.

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