The net effect of the Alaska summit was to give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending talks on a broader peace deal.

Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.

During the joint press conference, both President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that they had reached agreement on some issues—without describing what they were. Putin then went

Any potential peace deal for Ukraine would need to involve agreement on territory, with Russia currently occupying almost a fifth of Ukraine’s land.

The much-anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin began with a warm welcome a military flyover but ended with a thud after the two leaders conceded they