But halting progress, ever-more deadly drone attacks and unmoving negotiating positions seem to have taken their toll. On Thursday, Trump used a striking analogy to concede the warfare was nowhere near over, and that he did not, at that moment, feel it was best to intervene.

Trump tells Putin ‘Keep fighting,’ Putin obliges, Hegseth invokes mettle of D-Day troops in Normandy, Trump’s Qatari AF1 may cost $400 million.