European hopes that Donald Trump had finally tired of being played by Vladimir Putin and was ready to get tough with Russia have proved fleeting. On the day the US president’s deadline passed for the Russian leader to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face harsh economic punishment, he chose instead to invite Putin to a summit in Alaska. Trump still seems to believe only his personal involvement can secure a deal — and that even an accord that gives Moscow most of what it wants is worthwhile in hope of ending, for now, the bloodshed in Ukraine. The message his western counterparts should be impressing on the US leader is that a bad deal would be ruinous for Ukraine, for European and US security — and for Trump’s own legacy.

The US president has already handed the Kremlin a gift by inviting Putin to Alaska rather than a third country. An indictee of the International Criminal Court who should be a pariah for the unprovoked invasion of his neighbour is being welcomed onto US soil. There is symbolism, too, in the fact that Alaska was Russian territory before being sold to the US in a real estate deal.

There are still ways Trump could avoid a deeper disaster in Alaska. The guiding principle is that he should not discuss with Putin any matters of Ukrainian sovereignty or territorial integrity without involving President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Above all, he must avoid any formal recognition of Russian occupation of Ukrainian land. Kyiv’s non-US allies have been rattled by Trump’s hints that there would be “some swapping of territories”.