The echoes of the Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin continue two days after the meeting, as the anticipated meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Monday, with European leaders participating, is awaited.

US media continued to criticize Trump’s performance at the summit, with CNN stating that Putin’s victory left Trump facing difficult choices.

The network mentioned that the Russian president got everything he hoped for in Alaska, while Trump gained little based on his own pre-summit expectations.

The question now is whether Trump achieved any modest gains or planted seeds for Ukraine’s future security if a final peace agreement with Russia is reached, which remains unclear after Friday’s summit.

This left many strategic questions open. Although Trump claimed significant progress and rated the summit 10 out of 10, all signs point to a huge win for Putin.

Trump gave Putin a warm welcome on Friday with synchronized presidential plane arrivals and a red carpet. At the end of the meeting, Trump made huge concessions by adopting the Russian position that peace should focus on a final agreement, which will likely take months or years to negotiate, instead of a ceasefire now. CNN sees this as giving Russia more time to bombard Ukraine.

More importantly, Trump has so far backed down from threats to impose new sanctions on Russia and expand secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil, which helps finance the war. Trump had set a deadline last week amid frustration from Putin and growing belief that he was being played.

CNN said Trump’s enthusiasm for peace in Ukraine is commendable, even if his repeated public requests for a Nobel Peace Prize raise questions about his true motives. A positive outcome of the summit was the resumption of talks between the US and Russia, the two countries with the largest nuclear arsenals.

However, the basic premise behind Trump’s peace efforts is that his personality and unique status as the world’s greatest dealmaker can end wars. This myth seems very worn out after his long journey from Alaska to Washington, according to the network.

By falling short of his expectations at the Alaska summit, Trump faces difficult calculations about what to do next.

Will he return to his previous attempts to pressure Ukraine for an imposed peace that would justify Russia’s illegal invasion and legitimize the idea that countries can redraw international borders, thus overturning the post-World War II order? Or with the dust settling and Trump seeking to repair his image, will he resort to US pressure and sanctions to recalibrate Russia? At least he left the door open to intimidation instead of inducement in his Fox News interview, saying, “I might have to think about it in two or three weeks, but we don’t have to think about it now.”

Trump may also adhere to the Russian vision of talks on a final peace agreement. History shows this will not be quick nor respected by the Russians in the long term. Trump hopes to hold a trilateral summit between Putin, Zelensky, and himself, which would satisfy his desire for spectacle and grand televised events. But after Friday’s demonstration of Russia’s unwillingness to end the war, it is hard to imagine how this would achieve anything.

Another possibility is that Trump is simply frustrated or bored by the details and hardship of the long-term peace process lacking big, quick victories to celebrate with his supporters.