The threats, pressure and ultimatums have come and gone, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained Moscow’s uncompromising demands in Ukraine, raising fears he could use a planned summit with U.

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).

European nations have rallied behind Ukraine in advance of this week's summit between Trump and Putin, emphasizing that peace cannot be achieved without Kyiv's involvement.