President Vladimir Putin greeted his American counterpart in Alaska with a handshake, a smile, and a trip down the red carpet. Although he acknowledged that they were unable to come to an agreement on ending the conflict in Ukraine, Donald Trump concluded the summit by lauding their friendship and referring to Russia as a major power and the second-largest nation in the world.
Echoing a long-standing Kremlin stance, Trump seems to have given up on a ceasefire as a first step toward peace, which he and Ukraine had advocated for months, in favor of pursuing a full-fledged Peace Agreement to end the war by Saturday am Moscow time. There was no sign of the dire repercussions he had threatened Moscow for carrying on with the war. With time on their side, Russian troops continued to grind on the battlefields of Ukraine.
Suggested Videos
According to Laurie Bristow, a former British ambassador to Russia, the hurriedly planned Alaska summit delivered Mr. Putin most of what he wanted and produced nothing for Mr. Trump.
The spectacle at the summit
Putin visited Alaska for the first time in ten years and for the first time in a Western nation since his invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which caused ties between the United States and Russia to deteriorate to their lowest level since the Cold War. Thereafter, there were crippling sanctions and attempts to avoid Russia on the international scene.
Due to charges of war crimes, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023, which hindered his travel and interactions with other world leaders.
All of that seemed to change when Trump returned to the White House. while the world watched, he greeted Putin enthusiastically on a red carpet, even clapping for him while American bombers soared overhead.
According to retired Col. Peer de Jong, author of Putin, Lord of War and a former advisor to two French presidents, the overflight was a welcome gesture and a display of power from the U.S. president to the Kremlin leader, displayed to a friend.
Pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda characterized the pompous welcome Putin received in Alaska as a sign of the highest respect, and Russian officials and media gloated over the pictures. It described the conference as a major diplomatic win for Putin, who will have more time to expand his forces’ territory.
According to German parliamentarian Roderich Kiesewetter, the welcome was a sharp contrast to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s March visit to the Oval Office, during which Trump greeted him as if he were a representative of a rogue state.
Bristow told The Associated Press that Trump ignored the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin, which did not in the least undermine Putin’s efforts to break out of international isolation and return to the world stage as one of two global leaders.
Putin’s objective is complete.
According to Neil Melvin, head of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, Putin’s main objective in attending the Alaska conference was to delay any pressure on Russia to halt the war. He will view the summit’s outcome as a successful mission.
Trump has pushed for a ceasefire in recent months, which Ukraine and its allies backed and maintained was necessary before any peace negotiations could begin. However, the Kremlin has resisted, claiming that it is only interested in a long-term peace deal and is not interested in a short-term truce.
Kyiv has yet to accept Moscow’s formal peace proposals, which include the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the surrender of four territories that Russia only partially controls. According to the Kremlin, Ukraine must also withdraw its aspiration to join NATO and reduce its military.
Following Alaska, Trump seemed to adopt the Kremlin’s stance on a ceasefire, writing on social media that, following his discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, everyone agreed that a peace agreement—rather than a ceasefire agreement, which frequently fails—is the best way to put an end to the terrible conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The European leaders did not discuss whether a peace agreement was better than a ceasefire in a statement following the Trump conversation.
The meeting came a week after Trump threatened to impose secondary taxes on nations who purchase its oil unless the Kremlin halted the battle at that time.
According to Chris Weafer, CEO of the consulting firm Macro-Advisory Ltd., Trump has already placed similar tariffs on India, and if they were applied to other countries, Russian revenues would likely suffer greatly and swiftly.
Trump also promised extremely serious, albeit undefined, repercussions if Putin would not agree to halt the war in the days leading up to Alaska. It’s uncertain, though, if those effects will actually occur. In a post-summit interview with Fox News Channel, Trump was asked about it. He responded that he doesn’t need to consider it at this time, but that he might give it another look in two or three weeks.
Increased strain on Ukraine
Putin said in a statement following the talks that the two leaders had reached a consensus on Ukraine and cautioned Europe from destroying the early gains. However, Trump stated that a deal is not finalized until one is reached.
Trump stated in his Fox interview that Zelenskyy might have the burden of completing it in the future, but that European countries will also play a role.
On Monday, Zelenskyy will see Trump at the White House. Although Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov claimed it wasn’t discussed in Alaska, both brought up the prospect of a trilateral summit with Putin. For a long time, the Kremlin has said that Putin will only meet Zelenskyy during the last phases of peace negotiations.
While retaining a role for himself, Trump now seems to be moving responsibilities towards Kyiv and Europe. The Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center’s Tatiana Stanovaya writes about X.
Trump has met his match because Putin is a far more formidable bully, Fiona Hill, a top adviser on Russia during his first term, told AP.
According to her, Trump wants to mediate a significant real estate agreement between Russia and Ukraine, but he believes he can only put genuine pressure on Kyiv.
Hill stated that she anticipates Trump telling Zelenskyy that a deal with Putin is necessary because he wants to end the dispute and isn’t ready to exert pressure on the Russian leader.
On the more than 600-mile (1,000-kilometer) border, Russia continued to attack Ukraine and make little advances far from the meeting site and its backdrop, which read “Pursuing Peace.”
Overnight, Russia launched 85 drones and a ballistic missile. According to Ukraine’s air force, 61 drones were shot down or intercepted. Attacks were made on the front lines of Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Sumy.
The settlement of Kolodyazi in the Donetsk area and Vorone in the Dnipropetrovsk region have been seized, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. Ukraine refrained from commenting on the allegations. Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, two Russian strongholds in the Donetsk region—which Moscow illegally annexed in 2022 but now only partially controls—are coming under Russian pressure.
“The fighting will not end unless Mr. Putin is completely convinced that he cannot win militarily,” the former envoy Bristow stated. “That is the main lesson learned from the summit in Anchorage.
___
Contributions were made by Elise Morton and Pan Pylas of the Associated Press in London and John Leicester in Paris.
