US President Donald Trump on Saturday dropped his push for a ceasefire in Ukraine in favour of pursuing a full peace accord – a major shift announced hours after his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin yielded no clear breakthrough.

Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump – who had threatened "severe consequences" on Russia – and European leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, who will visit Washington on Monday.

The shift away from ceasefire would seem to favour Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal – a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticised as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances.

Trump spoke with Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back to Washington, saying afterwards that "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war."

Ceasefire agreements "often times do not hold up," Trump added on his Truth Social platform.

Trump notably also said the United States was prepared to provide Ukraine security guarantees, an assurance German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed as "significant progress."

In an interview with broadcaster Fox News after his sit-down with Putin, Trump suggested that the onus was now on Zelensky to secure a peace deal as they work towards an eventual trilateral summit with Putin.

"It's really up to President Zelensky to get it done," Trump said. (AFP)