“President Trump and two advisers spent Sunday trying to recast the lack of a cease-fire in the war in Ukraine as one step in a possibly slow march toward peace,” the New York Times reports.

“It was a significant departure from the peace agreement that the president said he had wanted out of a meeting in Alaska with President Vladimir Putin of Russia just 48 hours earlier.”

Wall Street Journal: “Ukraine could lose land but survive as a secure and sovereign, if shrunken, nation state. Alternatively, it could lose both land and sovereignty, falling back into Moscow’s sphere of influence.”

“European leaders said Sunday that they will join President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Monday when he meets with President Trump at the White House, as they strive to present a united front against Russia and avoid being sidelined in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.

“German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, were among the leaders who announced that they will join Mr. Zelensky in Washington. Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, will also join, as will NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm.”

Washington Post: European, NATO leaders to present united front with Zelensky in Trump meeting.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin couldn’t have scripted his first visit to the U.S. since 2015 much better,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The Russian leader strutted along a red carpet at a U.S. air base and posed smiling with President Trump, who had weeks earlier been expressing mounting frustration with him and threatening to hit Russia and its trading partners with sanctions. He met with Trump under a sign that read ‘pursuing peace.’”

“When they emerged 3½ hours later, the leaders said they hadn’t reached a deal. Instead, Putin used the stage to press his demands on Ukraine. Neither Trump nor Putin, who is facing an international arrest warrant for war crimes, took questions from the U.S. press.”

New York Times: “After all of the pre-summit talk of land swaps and the technicalities of a possible cease-fire in Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin made clear after his meeting in Alaska with President Trump that his deepest concern was not an end to three and a half years of bloodshed. Rather, it was with what he called the ‘situation around Ukraine,’ code for his standard litany of grievances over Russia’s lost glory.”

Politico: “Plans are in the works to send at least one of Trump’s favorite interlocutors, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, along with Zelenskyy when he comes to Washington Monday to meet with Trump.”

“The idea is that Stubb can help prevent any flare-ups between Trump and Zelenskyy and convince the U.S. president to include Europe in any further talks.”

Stephen Collinson: “Russian President Vladimir Putin got everything he could have hoped for in Alaska. President Donald Trump got very little — judging by his own pre-summit metrics.”

“The question now is whether Trump secured any moderate gains or planted seeds for Ukraine’s future security if there’s an eventual peace deal with Russia that were not immediately obvious after Friday’s summit…”

“Despite Trump’s claim to have made ‘a lot of progress’ and that the summit was a ‘10 out of 10,’ all signs point to a huge win for the Russian autocrat.”