Trump immediately calling the Russian leader after Monday’s meetings is similar to his quick outreach to Zelensky after he met with Putin last week in Anchorage, Alaska. Ever since Trump met with the Russian president on Friday, he has backed away from calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and instead said he hoped for a full peace deal.

P resident Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Monday that the United States would join Europe in providing security guarantees to Kyiv as part of a broader peace deal with Russia, the clearest signal yet that the White House is prepared to underwrite Ukraine’s long-term defense while pressing for negotiations with Moscow.

The Ukrainian leader's visit to the White House in February ended in a heated argument. Monday's meeting with President Trump was less fraught.

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.

In Alaska, the Russian leader proposed that Ukraine hand over the remainder of the Donbas region to Moscow to stop the fighting.