“President Trump on Monday backed off his demand that Russia declare an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, instead endorsing President Vladimir Putin’s call for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,” the New York Times reports.
“It was a shift from Mr. Trump’s recent threats of more pressure on Russia, such as when he raised the prospect of new banking sanctions in April because Mr.
Putin may not ‘want to stop the war’ and ‘has to be dealt with differently.’”“Mr. Trump also appeared enthusiastic to surrender his mediating role to a higher power: the pope.”