PUTIN: NEW DEMANDS, NO CONCESSIONS: President Donald Trump’s apparent intention to negotiate the framework of a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin — which Trump said would include “some swapping of territories” — without the direct participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sparked fear Kyiv and other European capitals, that Trump is about to leave Ukraine out in the cold.

America’s European allies reacted with shock and surprise to Trump’s announcement that he would meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday, after failing to impose any additional sanctions on Russia, or extracting any concessions from the Russian leader. In fact, following reports that Trump’s negotiator Steve Witkoff may have misunderstood Putin’s terms, it’s now clear he is demanding Ukraine hand over territory in eastern Ukraine that Russia has been unable to capture in three-and-a-half years of war.