"[Vladimir Putin] wanted this meeting. I felt there can't be a meeting without me," Trump added, recalling why he said he might go to Istanbul.

"I hated to see the checks were sent for $60 billion. I think Zelensky is the greatest salesman in the world, FAR BETTER THAN ME," said the US president.

"They didn't violate the deal. They threw it in the trash," he added.

The New York Times: "The meeting was a tactical win for Mr. Putin, who managed to start the talks without first agreeing to a battlefield ceasefire."

The Washington Post: "The talks were clouded by a number of demands that Ukrainians found unacceptable, including that Ukraine withdraw from its own territory that Russia only partly controls."

The Guardian: "The outcome is likely to be seen as a setback for Zelenskyy, coming after his bold gamble of challenging Putin to a direct meeting in the hope of winning favour with Washington."

Reuters: Russia's demands were "detached from reality and go far beyond anything that was previously discussed," a source in the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters.

💬“It is just drip, drip, drip,” one foreign minister said, referring to Europe’s messaging to the Trump administration in the hope the president eventually shifts position on Russia.

💬 As for the so-called “ceasefire ultimatum” issued by Friedrich Merz, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Donald Tusk after their meet-up with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky – it is “an expression of helplessness,” Popp said.