But, given the pushback he got from the Kremlin, Trump did not have room to promise much more. Last week, after his summit with Putin in Alaska, he had already set aside his main source of leverage over the Russians—the threat of sanctions and tariffs that could weaken Putin’s economy. “We don’t have to think about that right now,” Trump remarked.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy explained to Newsweek what he saw as the geopolitical significance of the high-stakes meeting being in his state.

European leaders head to the White House after President Donald Trump, following the Alaska summit, drops his Ukraine ceasefire demand to back Russia’s conditions for peace.