Im with President Trump: "Theres no deal until theres a deal."And now that he has changed his stance and is openly siding with Vladimir Putin, despite vehement objections from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who visited the White House yesterday, a deal seems rather elusive.Putins interest in peace is underscored by his continued bombardment of Ukraine, the country he illegally invaded, with the latest round killing 10 people. Which is to say the Kremlin dictator has no conceivable interest in peace, except on his maximalist terms.Look, Im rooting for Trump. If he can somehow square the circle of this brutal and bloody war, and bring things to an end, he will deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. And Hillary said shed nominate him.HERE IS THE 'BIGGEST DIFFERENCE' BETWEEN ZELENSKYY'S TWO WHITE HOUSE VISITSBut the negative reviews of the Alaska sitdown has rankled Trump and prompted him to lash out at Fake News on Truth Social:"If we had the Summit elsewhere, the Democrat run and controlled media would have said what a terrible thing THAT was. These people are sick!"Okay, he doesnt like the press. Except we now know, thanks to his in-flight comments to Foxs Bret Baier, that he enjoys the sparring, likening it to a golf game. The reporters are all trying to get him to make a mistake. If he makes no breaking news, he wins. If he does say something thats breaking news, he didnt put the ball in the hole and theyve got him.I watched Sunday morning as Zelenskyy and top European officials said only Russia can end the war and that Ukraine would not be surrendering the Donbas region, home to more than 200,000 people.As Gen. Wesley Clark told me on "Media Buzz," once you get past the Donbas region, its a "straight shot" to Kyiv, so the brave Ukrainians, who have held off the far bigger Russian war machine, would be defenseless.Its mildly encouraging that media reports say Putin has accepted the need for security forces to protect Ukraine, meaning the Europeans and the U.S. would send troops for a peacekeeping unit.When special envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in the room during the Putin session, was asked about Trumps change of position, I thought hed deny it, but he didnt. That confirms the stories are true, and certainly complicates matters.TRUMP SPARS WITH EUROPEAN LEADER DURING UKRAINE TALKS OVER KEY STEP TO PEACEGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz said over the weekend that Trump "said himself that a ceasefire was his absolute most important and highest priority. So, it was a joint demand, which isnt happening now. We would have indeed hoped for a cease-fire first. The Russian side was obviously unwilling to do that."So what exactly is Putin giving up? Nothing, as far as I can see. Every day without a cease-fire is another day that the indicted war criminal gets to cement his battlefield gains.And, under these circumstances, Trump expects Ukraines president to join in a trilateral meeting with him and Putin?Responding to Foxs Peter Doocy, Trump said: "I think if everything works out well today, we'll have a trilat and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that."Zelenskyy, who repeatedly praised Trumphe wasnt going to make the same mistake twice after getting kicked out of the White House following his meltdown back in Februaryreminded reporters that "we live under, each day, attacks. You know, that today have been a lot of attacks and a lot of wounded people. And the child was dead, small one, one year and half."So we need to stop this war, to stop Russia. And we need to support American and European partners that will do our best, for this. So, and I think we show that we are strong people and we supported the idea of the united system of personnel, President Trump to stop this war, to make a diplomatic way of finishing this war. And we are ready for trilateral as presidents."BACK FROM ALASKA, TRUMP STARTS WEEK WITH CRUCIAL FOREIGN POLICY TALKS OVER UKRAINE WARNow that stunned me. Hes willing to sit down with Putin and Trump after insisting on a cease-fire first which was also the presidents position until he flipped and abandoned it after the sitdown with the indicted war criminal?So what was the mood afterward?"I'm optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine," Trump said. He added, "I have a feeling you and President Putin are going to work something out."Zelenskyy "praised the constructive specific meeting," adding: "There is a lot of people in prison. So we need them back and guarantees which will work for the years. We spoke about it and I showed president a lot of details on the battlefield, on the map."But will Putin, who views Zelenskyy as an illegitimate leader, attend?All the chatter about the red carpet and other atmospherics is meaningless. Yes, Zelenskyy wore a suit, albeit a military-style one.We should all be rooting for Trump. Even if he falls short, and the war drags on, it can only end with a negotiated settlement.At one point, Trump broke away from the session and called Putin, rather than waiting till afterwards.Trump posted that this was "a very good early step," and early may be the operative word. The war could certainly drag on. But it cant end on the battlefield. We wouldnt have gotten this far without Trumps unique preference for leader-to-leader talks, even though hes now openly siding with Vladimir Putin. Sometimes that produces results and sometimes it doesnt, as with Kim Jong-un. But its given him and us a shot.