A FINE MESS

Trump Rates Putin Ceasefire Flop as 10 Out of 10

The president also used his Fox News interview to heap praise on the Russian president.

President Donald Trump has rated his meeting with Vladimir Putin as a 10 out of 10, despite leaving Alaska without a ceasefire deal and providing little detail on what he achieved from the summit.

Speaking after his high-stakes meeting with Putin, Trump also put the onus on Ukraine to end the war that Russia started, declaring, “It’s really up to Zelensky to get it done.”

“It’s still not a done deal at all,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Friday.

“And Ukraine has to agree. But it’s a terrible war and they’re losing a lot—both of them are—and hopefully it can get completed.”

What exactly Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have to agree to is not yet clear, as Trump refused to tell even Hannity, one of his most loyal, high-profile cheerleaders.

But ahead of the meeting, the president had said that any progress would probably involve Ukraine giving up territory to Russia as well as its ambitions to enter NATO.

Asked how he would grade the summit on a scale of one to 10, the president replied, “I think the meeting was a 10 in the sense that we got along great. And it’s good when, you know, two big powers get along—especially when they’re nuclear powers.”

Friday’s summit at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson was Putin’s first time on U.S. soil in 10 years.

After years of being frozen out by the West, the Russian president had been invited by Trump to Alaska in the hope of brokering a deal to end the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022 when Putin tried to claim the country as his own.

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“It’s interesting because someone said if I get this settled, I’ll get the Nobel Peace Prize,” said Trump, who has also helped to broker peace agreements in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

“But what about the other six wars or whatever? I mean those are big.”

He also shared two of the things the pair discussed during their three-hour meeting: the 2020 election, which they both agreed was “rigged,” and the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

“Putin said one of the most interesting things,” Trump recalled.

“He said ‘your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting… And he said that to me because we talked about 2020. He said, ‘You won that election by so much.’”

The president also used the interview to heap praise on his Russian counterpart, whom the U.S government has previously sanctioned and who also faces arrest warrants for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court.

“He’s a strong guy, tough as hell,” Trump said.

He also offered advice to Zelensky: “Make a deal.”

“Russia is a very big power, and they’re not,” the president said of Ukraine.

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Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

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