Moscow President Trump declared that he was proceeding swiftly with his plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this Friday. The meeting is a brief summit in which Trump will once again seek a diplomatic settlement to Putin’s war in Ukraine.
In person, this time, with the head of the Kremlin.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump stated, “I’ll know if a deal can be made probably in the first two minutes.”
“Because that’s what I do,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question on how. I negotiate.
Since announcing the summit will be held in Alaska, the Kremlin has mostly kept quiet.
Trump suggested that discussions he referred to as a “feel-out meeting” to better understand Russia’s demands for ending the war were unlikely to include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Kyiv and its European allies are worried that Trump would make significant concessions behind Ukraine’s back because of Ukraine’s exclusion from the conference.
In a declaration released over the weekend, officials from the European Commission, Finland, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom insisted that Kyiv be included in any discussions over its own future.
In the statement, the Europeans stated that “without Ukraine, the path in Ukraine cannot be decided.”
Trump stated that arranging a direct meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy would be his top goal, subject to conditions he found acceptable.
“I’m going to meet with President Putin and I’m going to see what he has in mind,” Trump declared, adding that he would then let President Zelenskyy and NATO and European allies know.
Trump added of the Ukrainian leader, “I’ll call him first out of respect.”
Additionally, Trump declared that he would speak with Zelenskyy and European leaders over the phone prior to the summit, with a preliminary date of Wednesday.
Ukraine eyes summit from afar
Kyiv is still cautious about the summit. While expressing gratitude for Trump’s peace initiatives, Zelenskyy cautioned that Putin was trying to influence the US president.
In fact, there were indications that Trump was already annoyed by Zelenskyy’s open denial of land to Moscow during talks in which he is not involved, citing the constitution of Ukraine.
“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, ‘I have to get constitutional approval [to give up territory],'” Trump stated on Monday.
“He’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?” stated Trump.
For a long time, Zelenskyy has maintained that any peace in Ukraine would mostly depend on the West giving Kyiv security assurances.
However, Zelenskyy stated in his nightly speech on Monday that Moscow was getting ready for additional military operations based on Kyiv’s study of recent Russian combat maneuvers.
Zelenskyy stated that although Putin may be discussing peace, he is “certainly not getting ready for a ceasefire or an end to the war.”
“There is no sign that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a postwar situation,” Zelenskyy stated.
Confusion over Russia’s position
Since the summit was only announced last week, preparations have been moving quickly, and it is still unclear exactly when, where, and how long the meetings will run.
Specifically, a meeting between Putin and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin last week has caused confusion among U.S. allies and the press.
What concessions from Russia had made an in-person meeting with an American president justified?
Trump reiterated in his remarks on Monday that a settlement might require “swapping territories.”
“There will be some landswapping going on,” Trump declared Monday. “I know that through conversations with Russia and conversations with everybody.”
Any deal, Trump stressed, would be “for the good of Ukraine.”
Adding, “Also some bad stuff,” “For both.”
Putin has publicly displayed no reluctance to back down from maximalist demands, which include Kyiv formally abandoning all territories claimed but not fully under Russian control, disarmament of Ukraine, and an end to Ukraine’s NATO aspirations.
Former Putin spokesman and pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov agreed that the Russian leader’s big gestures were improbable in light of what Putin perceived as Russia’s military superiority.
Markov countered that Putin would be searching for deals that may persuade Trump that he is getting closer to his ceasefire objective.
“I think it’s some kind of possibility of Putin to give a small gift to Donald Trump to keep Donald Trump in the peace process,” Markov stated to NPR.
From sanctions to summit
The news of the Alaskan summit, which seemed to at least delay Trump’s threat to slap significant secondary penalties and taxes on the majority of Russian energy exports, has been largely welcomed by Russians.
Trump had been using blatantly personal language to criticize Putin’s ongoing lethal bombardment of Ukrainian cities for weeks.
“You know, I talked to Vladimir today,” I tell the first lady when I get home. We had a fantastic discussion. And “Oh really?” she asked. In an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on July 14, Trump declared, “Another city was just hit.”
On the same day, Trump declared he had struck an agreement to sell U.S.-made weapons to European NATO partners for delivery to Ukraine.
Trump also declared that Russia would have until August 8 to end the war or face “severe” new economic sanctions.
Rather, Putin will meet with an American leader for the first time since 2021, when then-President Biden tried to persuade him to withdraw his troops before what would turn out to be the biggest land war in Europe in a generation.
“A master class in diplomacy”
Putin’s allies in Moscow contended that the Russian leader had perpetrated a major diplomatic prank.
Yury Podolyak, one of a number of Russian pro-war bloggers who have become well-known and influential during the conflict in Ukraine, commented, “In my opinion, Vladimir Putin demonstrated was nothing short of a masterclass in diplomacy.”
“Very few people these days know how to navigate their way out of a difficult situation like that,” said Podolyak.
Podolyak said, “In general, the very fact that a summit being held in Alaska without Zelensky and his European sponsors is a substantial diplomatic victory,” in a piece published in the daily tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets.
“The selection of Alaska is an excellent choice!” Zelenskyy and Europe could not stop the proceedings “without a special invitation,” the paper went on to say.
Alaska’s shared heritage
Supporters of the Kremlin have also praised Alaska’s selection as a representation of a common cultural past.
Once a part of the Russian Empire, the 49th state was sold to the United States in 1867 as Russia attempted to collect enormous debts. Another conflict in a different era.
Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s representative in the U.S. negotiations, has frequently posted honors to the region’s Russian heritage.
“Born as Russian America – Orthodox roots, forts, fur trade – Alaska echoes those ties & makes the US an Arctic nation,” Dmitriev wrote in a post to X.
At the White House on Monday, Trump also unintentionally brought attention to Alaska’s Russian heritage when he announced, “I’m going to Russia on Friday.”
The irony is that Russia’s emphasis on empire and history, which contributed to the war in Ukraine in many ways, has long been reflected in the claims made by Russian nationalists that Alaska should be reunited with Russia.Copyright 2025 NPR
