“President Trump on Monday backed off his demand that Russia declare an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, instead endorsing President Vladimir Putin’s call for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,” the New York Times reports.

“It was a shift from Mr. Trump’s recent threats of more pressure on Russia, such as when he raised the prospect of new banking sanctions in April because Mr. Putin may not ‘want to stop the war’ and ‘has to be dealt with differently.’”

“Mr. Trump also appeared enthusiastic to surrender his mediating role to a higher power: the pope.”

“The Trump administration first approached Qatar to inquire about acquiring a Boeing 747 that could be used as Air Force One by President Donald Trump,“ CNN reports.

“That’s contrary to the narrative from the president that Qatar reached out and offered the jet as a ‘gift’ to him.”

Anne Applebaum: “Ukrainians find none of this surprising, because they have been listening to this kind of language for three years. What they do find surprising is the American president’s tolerance for what looks to them like open mockery. President Donald Trump says he wants a peace negotiation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared for a peace negotiation. The Russian president turned it into a farce, and will likely proceed with the farce, stringing out Trump for as long as possible and agreeing to more phone calls and meetings in order to avoid new sanctions, distract attention from Russia’s ongoing war crimes, and make the U.S. appear weak.”

“I will not here offer a full explanation for why Trump does not understand the game that Putin is playing, one that is obvious to absolutely everyone else. I will note only that Trump repeatedly misunderstands Putin, overrates his alleged friendship with Putin, and often attributes to Putin motives that are really his own.”