A meeting between president Donald Trump and German chancellor Friedrich Merz took an awkward turn yesterday when he suggested that Germans might not view the anniversary of D-Day — commemorating the US-led invasion of Europe that was the beginning of the end for the Nazis — in a favorable light.

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.

In an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump likened the war between Russia and Ukraine to a fight between two children who hate each other.