President Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin are holding a joint news conference after a more than 2 1/2-hour meeting in Alaska.

US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin made “great progress” but did not emerge from yesterday’s summit in Alaska with an agreement on the war in Ukraine. Follow for live updates.

President Donald Trump said on social media Saturday that a deal better than “a mere Ceasefire” is in the works with Vladimir Putin, hours after Trump’s high-stakes summit with the Russian leader in Alaska failed to produce an agreement to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The highly anticipated summit ended without a breakthrough. Afterwards, Trump said Ukraine and Russia should proceed straight to seeking a full peace deal instead of a cease-fire.

Achieving a peace agreement is an even higher bar than the ceasefire that has eluded the Trump administration in recent months.

The net effect of the Alaska summit was to give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a free pass to continue his war against his neighbor indefinitely without further penalty, pending talks on a broader peace deal.

Zelensky has rejected Russian demands to cede Ukrainian land. The Ukrainian leader and his European partners, including the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, had lobbied the White House for weeks to demand that Moscow agree to a ceasefire before any negotiations.

President Donald Trump has yet to exit Air Force One, as he remains on board exchanging greetings with Alaskan senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan as well as Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, according to a White House official.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, who witnessed Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ignore reporters’ questions after their summit Friday, said everyone in the room was “surprised” by the president’s silence. Heinrich,