He even envisioned a grand summit to announce a peace deal.But Putin rejected repeated American calls to stop his attacks. And Trump, in recent months, began to take that personally, complaining privately to advisers—and then eventually in public—that Putin would tell him one thing in their phone calls (that he was committed to peace) and then act entirely differently afterward (by bombing Ukraine).

Since President Trump retook office, many Ukrainians have worried a peace accord would be struck without them.