With President Donald Trump‘s face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin looming, there are still unanswered questions about how Ukraine will be involved, and whether the Republican can find a way to bridge the still-substantial distance between Kyiv and Moscow on a ceasefire deal.
Trump said he would meet Putin in Alaska on August 15 for a “highly anticipated” summit. It will be the first time the Republican has met the Kremlin chief in person of his second term in office.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed the meeting, saying on Saturday that the White House and the Kremlin would be “working vigorously hard” on the summit’s agenda in the next few days.
“The presidents will undoubtedly focus on discussing ways to reach a sustainable settlement to the Ukraine crisis,” Ushakov said. The Trump administration is considering inviting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. media reported on Saturday.
Many months of talks on a ceasefire deal for Ukraine have failed to yield an agreement inked by both Kyiv and Moscow. Ukraine agreed to a U.S. proposal in March, and Trump—historically reluctant to overly criticize Putin—has grown increasingly frustrated with the Kremlin chief.
What Does Trump Want?
Trump, often known for to-and-froing, has been consistent in his calls for an end to the largest conflict on European soil since World War II. A substantial part of his foreign policy has been shaped by his desire to be known as both a dealmaker and a peacemaker.
As Moscow increased its aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, Trump became more critical of the Kremlin, saying Putin was giving the White House “a lot of b*******.”
Trump has warmed to Ukraine since the infamous White House meeting with Zelensky in February, during which the president, along with several senior administration officials, berated the Kyiv leader in front of the world’s cameras.
But as Russia’s reluctance to sign a deal continued, Trump greenlet more aid for Ukraine, including air defense supplies to defend the country from Russian attacks, and imposed a deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to agree to a ceasefire deal in early August. This window closed on Friday, but the White House did not appear to institute new economic sanctions on Russia as threatened.
“Putin is not interested in a true ceasefire,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee and a member of Zelensky’s party.
“He is using negotiations with Trump for only one purpose—to avoid serious sanctions, including secondary sanctions against those countries which buy Russian oil and gas,” he told Newsweek.
Russia’s oil and gas industry is crucial to the country’s economy, and Moscow was slapped with sanctions by Ukraine’s backers after it launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in early 2022. Kyiv has also targeted Russian oil and gas facilities with long-range drone strikes in an attempt to curb the Kremlin’s access to the resources propping up its military.
Secondary sanctions target third-party buyers of Russian exports, like India and China.
Trump became embroiled in a war of words with Russia’s former President, Dmitry Medvedev, and deployed two U.S. Navy nuclear submarines after “highly provocative” statements from Medvedev. The former president is currently the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council and well-known for his inflammatory social media commentary.
Where Does Ukraine stand?
Ukrainian officials frequently say they are seeking an end to the war, but one that does not reward Russia or open the door for Moscow to restart attempts to seize territory from Kyiv.
Ukraine has repeatedly said that ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia is off the table. It goes against the country’s constitution, Zelensky said again over the weekend.
“No one will deviate from this—and no one will be able to,” Zelensky said in a post to messaging app Telegram on Saturday. “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.”
Ukraine has consistently said it needs security guarantees, and not to be bound by any limits on the size of its military. Kyiv also does not want to be labeled a neutral state, but one firmly on the path to NATO and European Union membership.
Ukraine’s memorandum, presented by Kyiv officials during rounds of direct talks with a Russian delegation in Turkey earlier this summer, also said it sought a “full and unconditional ceasefire in the sky, on land and at sea.”
Furthermore, Kyiv has said an agreement needs to look at humanitarian issues, such as an exchange of all prisoners and the return of children taken from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine.
And Russia’s Perspective?
Russia’s demands have remained far away from what Ukraine appears willing to accept.
During direct talks in Istanbul in June, Russia offered up two proposals for a 30-day ceasefire. “The first one is about how to reach a truly lasting peace,” Vladimir Medinsky, Russia’s chief negotiator, said at the time. “The second part highlights the steps to be taken toward a real ceasefire.”
One option would have Kyiv withdraw from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as the Donbas, as well as the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.
Russia declared it had annexed these four mainland Ukrainian regions in fall 2022. It does not fully control these regions, although it has captured much of Luhansk and Donetsk. Moscow annexed Crimea, to the south of the mainland, from Kyiv in 2014.
The alternative, Russia said, would be for Ukraine to stop building up its military and halt military aid deliveries, while lifting martial law and opening up to elections. Elections are banned in Ukraine while martial law is in place. A more comprehensive peace agreement would come later, Moscow said, adding no foreign military personnel should be allowed in Ukraine.
Russia has pushed for the recognition of its control over the annexed regions, and for Ukraine to abandon its hopes of joining NATO in favor of neutrality.
Moscow has also said it wants Kyiv to limit the size of its military and put the Russian language on equal footing with Ukrainian.
How Does Europe Fit In?
The U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a joint statement on Sunday, reiterating their support for the “principle that international borders must not be changed by force.”
“We share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests,” the governments said.
European leaders have offered a “counterproposal” following a meeting between Putin and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, The Wall Street Journal reported. This European plan rejected the idea Ukraine would cede territory it still holds in Donetsk and was presented to the U.S. on Saturday, according to the report.
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