At what was billed as an “historic” presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun.

Trump said after meeting with Putin in Alaska the “best way” to end Russia’s war with Ukraine is “to go directly to a peace agreement,” and not a “mere ceasefire agreement.”

US President Donald Trump is briefing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders about his summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin, German government sources told dpa on Saturday morning.