LINCOLN, Neb. —

Russian leader Vladimir Putin's Friday afternoon stride down the red carpet in Alaska culminated in the first time a U.S. president has shaken his hand since he launched his brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"(Donald) Trump wants to give him a chance to do the right thing," former Nebraska State Sen. Tom Brewer said.

Brewer has seen the trenches and bombed cities of war-torn Ukraine firsthand and questions if Russia really wants peace.

"They're purely hitting civilian targets, apartment buildings," he said. "Without the president of Ukraine there to, you know, actually discuss what the terms are going to be, I just don't see anything positive coming out of that."

Anxiety was a common feeling in Nebraska's Ukrainian community on Friday, with some fearing that what'

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