And in the Gaza Strip, an alliance that has withstood scathing international criticism over Israel\u2019s conduct of its war against Hamas has begun to show strain. Trump still supports the fundamental mission of Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to destroy the militant group and secure the release of Israeli hostages in its possession. But mounting evidence of mass starvation in Gaza<\/a> has begun to fray the relationship, reportedly resulting in a shouting match in their most recent call<\/a>.<\/p>\n Breakthroughs in the two conflicts have evaded Trump, despite his efforts to fashion himself into the \u201cpeacemaker-in-chief\u201d and floating his own nomination<\/a> for the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n In Turnberry, Scotland, last month, Trump claimed that six wars had been stopped or thwarted under his watch since he returned to office in January. \u201cI\u2019m averaging about a war a month,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n He has, in fact, secured a string of tangible successes on the international stage, overseeing a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda; hosting a peace ceremony between Armenia and Azerbeijan; brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, and imposing an end to a 12-day war between Israel and Iran after engaging U.S. forces directly in the conflict.<\/p>\n Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda\u2019s foreign minister, from left, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Democratic Republic of the Congo foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner in the Oval Office of the White House on June 27. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda agreed to a U.S.-backed peace deal meant to end years of deadly conflict and promote development in Congo\u2019s volatile eastern region.<\/p>\n (Yuri Gripas\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cAs president, my highest aspiration is to bring peace and stability to the world,\u201d Trump said at the ceremony with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders<\/a> Friday. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve only been here for six months. The world was on fire. We took care of just about every fire \u2014 and we\u2019re working on another one,\u201d he said, \u201cwith Russia, Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also takes credit for lowering tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, and for brokering a ceasefire between two nuclear states, India and Pakistan, a claim the latter supports but the former denies.<\/p>\n \u201cWars usually last five to 10 years,\u201d said Michael E. O\u2019Hanlon, chair in defense and strategy at the Brookings Institution. \u201cTrump is tactically clever, but no magician. If he actually gets three of these five conflicts to end, that\u2019s an incredible track record.<\/p>\n \u201cIn each case, he may exaggerate his own role,\u201d O\u2019Hanlon said, but \u201cthat\u2019s OK \u2014 I welcome the effort and contribution, even if others deserve credit, too.\u201d<\/p>\n One-on-one with Putin<\/p>\n Well past his campaign promise of ending Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine \u201cwithin 24 hours<\/a>\u201d of taking office, Trump has tried pressuring both sides to come to the negotiating table, starting with the Ukrainians. \u201cYou don\u2019t have the cards,\u201d Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an infamous Oval Office meeting<\/a> in February, chastising him to prepare to make painful concessions to end the war.<\/p>\n But in June, at a NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump\u2019s years-long geniality with Putin underwent a shift<\/a>. He began criticizing Russia\u2019s leader as responsible for the ongoing conflict, accusing Putin of throwing \u201cmeaningless … bull\u2014<\/a>\u201d at him and his team.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now,\u201d Trump said, approving new weapons for Ukraine, a remarkable policy shift long advocated by the Europeans.<\/p>\n Russian President Vladimir Putin and King of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim walk during a welcoming ceremony at the Grand Kremlin Palace on Wednesday in Moscow. Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim is on an official visit to Russia.<\/p>\n (Getty Images)<\/p>\n The Trump administration set Friday as a deadline for Putin to demonstrate his commitment to a ceasefire, or otherwise face a new round of crushing secondary sanctions \u2014 financial tools that would punish Russia\u2019s trading partners for continuing business with Moscow.<\/p>\n Those plans were put on hold after Trump announced he would meet with Putin in Alaska next week, a high-stakes meeting that will exclude Zelensky.<\/p>\n \u201cThe highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday. \u201cThank you for your attention to this matter!\u201d<\/p>\n Meeting Putin one-on-one \u2014 the first meeting between a U.S. and Russian president in four years, and the first between Putin and any Western leader since he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 \u2014 in and of itself could be seen as a reward for a Russian leader seeking to regain international legitimacy, experts said.<\/p>\n In this June 28, 2019, file photo, President Trump, right, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.<\/p>\n (Susan Walsh\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n Worse still, Putin, a former KGB officer, could approach the meeting as an opportunity to manipulate the American president.<\/p>\n \u201cPutin has refused to abandon his ultimate objectives in Ukraine \u2014 he is determined to supplant the Zelensky government in Kyiv with a pro-Russian regime,\u201d said Kyle Balzer, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. \u201cHe wants ironclad guarantees that Ukraine will never gain admittance to NATO. So there is currently no agreement to be had with Russia, except agreeing to surrender to Putin\u2019s demands. Neither Ukraine nor Europe are interested in doing so.<\/p>\n \u201cPut simply, Putin likely believes that he can wear down the current administration,\u201d Balzer added. \u201cThreatening Russia with punitive acts like sanctions, and then pulling back when the time comes to do so, has only emboldened Putin to strive for ultimate victory in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n A European official told The Times that, while the U.S. government had pushed for Zelensky to join the initial meeting, a response from Kyiv \u2014 noting that any territorial concession to Russia in negotiations would have to be approved in a ballot referendum by the Ukrainian people \u2014 scuttled the initial plan. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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