РУССКИЙ
10:30 13.08.2025 •
Photo illustration: Yahoo News
As the two presidents prepare for their meeting on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine, we look at the potential outcomes, ‘The Times’ writes.
Is peace in Ukraine finally within reach? After so much blood, grudge and disappointment, it seems hard to hold much optimism, but as with anything involving President Trump, prediction is difficult.
What is clear is that even if a deal can be agreed it would really only be the starting point, not the end, of a long-term effort to persuade him to buy into a lasting peace process.
Is there a plan? The first meeting between Russian and US presidents since 2021 will take place on Friday in Alaska. Putin might have preferred to see Trump on Russian soil, but the choice of Alaska is a minor concession to his American counterpart.
What do the two men have to discuss, though?
The veteran diplomat Yuri Ushakov, now Putin’s main foreign affairs adviser, was characteristically taciturn after last week’s visit to Moscow by Trump’s real estate baron negotiator, Steve Witkoff.
Nonetheless, he did state that “there was an offer made by the Americans that we consider quite acceptable”. The implication is that there is a proposed peace plan. What might this be?
According to the Polish media outlet Onet, it includes a ceasefire, de facto recognition of Russia’s territorial gains, and the lifting of most US sanctions on Russia, perhaps linked to some kind of privileged access to Russian oil and gas for American companies. This aligns with the main direction of travel among the Washington peacemaking community.
Would Putin accept? If these latest suggestions are true, then the terms are a gift to Putin. He also seems to feel he is still winning. In the past month, Russian troops took another 226 square miles. Not only is this more than in the previous month, but a tactic of encircling towns rather than frontally assaulting them is paying dividends.
Trump cannot simply give away Ukrainian territory. His suggestion of a follow-on trilateral summit also including President Zelensky did not go down well with Putin, but the Russian leader was unusually diplomatic.
This time, Putin retreated into vagueness, saying that a meeting with Zelensky “is possible. But certain conditions must be met, and unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.”
Trump would be wrong to assume that whatever he and Putin agree, Ukraine — and Europe — will be forced to accept. Europe however faces the prospect of either denouncing Trump’s deal, reminding him of his old conviction that “the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States”, or meekly accepting his terms, undermining efforts to make the bloc look like a credible, independent geopolitical force.
For Ukraine, abandoning the 20 per cent of its territory and 7 per cent of its population now under Russian control would be agonising, let alone conceding the pockets of east Ukraine that it still holds.
However, public sentiment has begun to shift. Recent Gallup polling has charted Ukrainians’ increasing fatigue: 69 per cent now favour negotiating peace as soon as possible, with only 24 per cent favouring keeping fighting until the war is won.
For Putin, after all, further delaying any more serious US action and the optics of a meeting with the US president will already be wins. If he can convince Trump that it is Ukraine, not Russia, that is denying him the political triumph he craves, then there is a chance of reversing the US’s recent tilt back towards Kyiv.
Yet for all the inevitable concerns about this hurried summit and a potential stitch-up of Ukraine, there is value in diplomacy. Western countries have treated dialogue with Russia as a reward for good behaviour, not a necessity in dangerous times. There are fewer open channels for communication now than in the worst days of the Cold War.
This summit may not bring peace in our time. But it could be a step forward.
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