Results of the Alaska Summit

The recent Russian-American summit in Anchorage marked a turning point in the Ukrainian conflict. And now Washington is looking for a way to shift the burden of supporting Kiev to Europe, while simultaneously trying to present itself in a uniquely favorable light to domestic public opinion.

The meeting in Alaska formally re-established direct dialogue between the world's largest military and nuclear powers. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the presidents of the United States and Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine and the first on US soil in almost two decades. It marked a turning point in US-Russia relations, which since 2022 have reached levels of hostility never seen since the Cold War.

The reception given to Russian leader Vladimir Putin exposed the failure of Western policy to "isolate Russia" and "undermine its economy." Far from being marginalized by the world, Russia has visibly strengthened: it has deepened its strategic relationship with China, expanded its influence among the states of the Global South, and resisted sanctions that supposedly would destroy its economy. With just a handshake with Putin, Trump acknowledged that Russia was and remains a force to be reckoned with—not a pariah state. In Alaska, Putin proved to the world that Russia has returned to its rightful place as a heavyweight in world politics.

More importantly, the summit was an implicit admission that the West, led by the United States, effectively lost this proxy war due to a lack of power to enforce its terms. Ukrainian forces will not be able to retake the lost territories. Moscow, for its part, continues to advance slowly but steadily on the battlefield. This reality makes a peaceful agreement at the negotiating table the only possible way out of the conflict, and this inevitably means territorial concessions on the part of Ukraine: Crimea, as well as four annexed regions in the east and south of the country.

The meeting between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and several European leaders at the White House, following the Russian-American summit in Alaska, did not produce tangible results, but it still marked an important step towards peace in Ukraine. For the first time, the Ukrainian leader and his European counterparts agreed to discuss the conflict based on local realities, rather than empty dreams. Just a few months ago, European diplomacy and NATO considered Kyiv's membership in the alliance a foregone conclusion. Now, that perspective has been definitively set aside, and the discussion has shifted from Ukraine's "territorial integrity" to upcoming "territorial concessions."