From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

Mitchell Holman wrote:

Trump arranges summit with
Putin, Putin prevails, Trump returns
with nothing. The whole world is
laughing at Trump.

Trump's not a negotiator, he's a servant.

He's the Surrender Monkey President. A laughing stock.




U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine should make a
deal to end the war with Russia because oRussia is a very big power, and theyAre noto, after a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land. After the two leaders met in Alaska on
Friday, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Putin had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of MoscowAs main targets, a source familiar
with the matter said.

Zelensky rejected the demand, the source said. Russia already controls a
fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which
it first entered in 2014.

Trump also said he agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies, until now with U.S. support, have demanded.

Zelensky said he would meet Trump in Washington on Monday, while KyivAs European allies welcomed TrumpAs efforts but vowed to back Ukraine and
tighten sanctions on Russia.

Analysis: Despite TrumpAs impatience to broker a settlement in Russia-
Ukraine War, Putin presents some obstacles to peace

TrumpAs meeting with Putin, the first U.S.-Russia summit since Moscow
launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, lasted just
three hours.

oIt was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end
the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,o Trump posted on Truth Social.

His various comments on the meeting mostly aligned with the public
positions of Moscow, which says it wants a full settlement - not a pause -
but that this will be complex because positions are odiametrically
opposedo.

Russia has been gradually advancing for months. The war - the deadliest in Europe for 80 years - has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts. Before the summit, Trump had said he would not be happy unless a ceasefire was agreed on.

Ukrainian women give birth in bomb shelters as country faces plummeting population

But afterwards he said that, after MondayAs talks with Zelensky, oif all
works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putino. Those
talks will evoke memories of a meeting in the White House Oval Office in February, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave Zelensky a brutal public dressing-down. Putin signalled no movement in RussiaAs long-held demands, which also include a veto on KyivAs desired membership in the NATO alliance.

He made no mention in public of meeting Zelensky, which the Ukrainian
leader said he was willing to do. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said a three-
way summit had not been discussed.

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In an interview with Fox NewsA Sean Hannity, Trump signalled that he and
Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had olargely agreedo.

oI think weAre pretty close to a deal,o he said, adding: oUkraine has to
agree to it. Maybe theyAll say AnoA.o

Asked what he would advise Zelensky to do, Trump said: oGotta make a deal.o

oLook, Russia is a very big power, and theyAre not,o he added.

Zelensky has consistently said he cannot concede territory without changes
to UkraineAs constitution, and Kyiv sees DonetskAs ofortress citieso such
as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk as a bulwark against Russian advances into even more regions.

Zelensky has also insisted on security guarantees, to deter Russia from invading again. He said he and Trump had discussed opositive signalso on
the U.S. taking part, and that Ukraine needed a lasting peace, not ojust another pauseo between Russian invasions. Canadian Prime Minister Mark
Carney welcomed what he described as TrumpAs openness to providing security guarantees to Ukraine under a peace deal. He said security guarantees were oessential to any just and lasting peace.o

Putin, who has opposed involving foreign ground forces, said he agreed with Trump that UkraineAs security must be oensuredo. oI would like to hope that the understanding we have reached will allow us to get closer to that goal
and open the way to peace in Ukraine,o Putin told a briefing on Friday with Trump. For Putin, just sitting down with Trump represented a victory. He
had been ostracized by Western leaders since the start of the war, and just
a week earlier had faced a threat of new sanctions from Trump.


Trump spoke to European leaders after returning to Washington. Several stressed the need to keep pressure on Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said an end to the war was closer than ever, thanks to Trump, but added: o... until (Putin) stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even
more sanctions.o A statement from European leaders said, oUkraine must have ironclad security guaranteeso and no limits should be placed on its armed forces or right to seek NATO membership as Russia has sought.

Some European politicians and commentators were scathing about the summit. oPutin got his red carpet treatment with Trump, while Trump got nothing,o Wolfgang Ischinger, former German ambassador to Washington, posted on X.

Both Russia and Ukraine carried out overnight air attacks, a daily
occurrence, while fighting raged on the front. Trump told Fox he would postpone imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, but he might
have to othink about ito in two or three weeks.

He ended his remarks after the summit by telling Putin: oWeAll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon.o

oNext time in Moscow,o a smiling Putin responded in English.

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