Trump runs into the difficulty of Putin diplomacy and ending a long war
August 16, 2025
President Donald Trump walked into a summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin pressing for a ceasefire deal and threatening “severe consequences” and tough new sanctions if the Kremlin leader failed to agree to halt the fighting in Ukraine. Instead, Trump was the one who stood down, dropping his demand for a ceasefire in favor of pursuing a full peace accord — a position that aligns with Putin’s. It was a dramatic reversal that laid bare the challenges of dealing with Putin and the complexities of a conflict that Trump had repeatedly boasted during his campaign that he could solve within 24 hours.