Anchorage: On the flight from Washington to Alaska, Donald Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier he would be unhappy if he left his meeting with Vladimir Putin without “some form of a ceasefire”.

Fast-forward six hours and Air Force One ended up leaving Anchorage more than an hour early, taking the US president home without a ceasefire or any other firm deal on peace for Ukraine. “We didn’t get there,” he told reporters. “But we have a very good chance of getting there.”

Donald Trump greets Vladimir Putin after the Russian leader lands in Alaska.Credit: AP

There were signs this meeting was not going to be an immediate game-changer. While Trump’s meeting with Putin lasted a lengthy 2½ hours, a mooted working lunch was scrapped. Journalists were hurried into the room for a joint press conference that ended up lasting about 12 minutes.

Unusually, the visiting Russian president spoke first, and Trump – uncharacteristically – said very little. He sounded flat, and the leaders took no questions.

Reporters were shocked and confused by the abrupt ending. Had the leaders actually agreed to anything? What the hell just happened?

Some will say that all that happened was Putin was brought back in from the deep freeze, in front of the whole world. That a man wanted by the International........

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