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.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he expected Russian President Vladimir Putin to release over 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners soon after a trilateral meeting was set up with Ukrainian leader Voldymyr Zelenskiy.