Trump Bows to Putin’s Approach on Ukraine | Putin Played Trump Like an Agent Handler Plays an Asset | Donald Trump’s Gift to Vladimir Putin, and more

To those who have followed Mr. Trump’s diplomacy, this meeting seemed to have a natural comparison: Mr. Trump’s first encounter seven years ago with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, which was marked by embraces, handshakes, letters testifying to their mutual admiration — and a continued buildup of the North’s nuclear arsenal.
“Just like the Kim summits,” said Robert Litwak of George Washington University, who studies superpower relations, “this was high on atmospherics, low on substance.”
“There was scant preparation,” he added, “and the moral hazard of legitimizing, in this case, a war criminal.”

Trump Backs Putin’s Route for Talks, Dashing Ukraine’s Hopes for Swift Cease-Fire  (Jim Tankersley and Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times)
President Trump appeared on Saturday to split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, adopting Mr. Putin’s preference for pursuing a sweeping peace agreement instead of the urgent cease-fire Mr. Trump said he wanted before the meeting.
Doing so would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are due to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visits Mr. Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Mr. Trump and European allies, as well as Mr. Zelensky, had agreed to before the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska, and it provoked a chilly reception in Europe, where leaders have time and again seen Mr. Trump reverse positions on Ukraine after speaking with Mr. Putin.

Donald Trump’s Gift to Vladimir Putin  (Economist)
Russia’s leader is honored, but offers little in return.
The honors for Mr. Putin were in sharp contrast to the public humiliation that Mr Trump and his advisers inflicted on Mr. Zelensky during his visit to the White House earlier this year. Since then relations with Ukraine have improved, but Mr. Trump has often been quick to blame it for being invaded; and he has proved strangely indulgent with Mr. Putin. Mr. Trump told Fox you have to “weave and bob” to reach deals, but his constant shuffling in the run-up to the summit suggests indecision and frustration with a Russian leader who will not respond to his entreaties.
Mr. Putin insisted that “we need to eliminate all the primary causes of that conflict”. Given that he thinks the primary cause is Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty, and its right to join European institutions including NATO, his formula is a recipe for continuing the war. Mr. Trump did nothing to disabuse him. The Russian president left with a smile, and even tried a little English in public: “Next time in Moscow”, he told his host. To which Mr. Trump replied, “I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening.”

Trump Drops Ceasefire Demand for Ukraine War After Summit with Putin  (David L. Stern and Ellen Francis, Washington Post)
An immediate ceasefire to the war in Ukraine had long been a bedrock demand by the U.S., Ukraine and their European allies.

Well, What Did You Think Would Happen?  (Jonathan Lemire, The Atlantic)
Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin but failed to make a deal.

Putin Got Exactly What He Wanted from Trump  (Dominic Nicholls, The Telegraph)
After US president’s pampering, Russian leader will feel he has shown the world he is back where he belongs.
The sight of American soldiers kneeling before Putin’s plane to secure the red carpet to the Tarmac is an image that will appall many.
Critics of Mr. Trump, Putin or both will see it as a craven act by a weak president courting favor with a man considered a war criminal. Others might say it is the necessary underbelly of international diplomacy.
As the circus drew to a close, Putin had succeeded in getting his handshake with the US president. He would feel he had shown the world Russia was back where it belongs - at the top table of global politics. He would be glad his actions had drawn no consequences.
If European leaders don’t act to support Ukraine after this, they will have to answer to history.