For Trump, the location is significant: a reminder of the deal forged by the US to buy Alaska from Moscow in 1867. It is proof that anything can be bought or sold, especially in the Trump era – and that includes swathes of Ukraine.
Unhappily for Ukraine, the settled view of this odd couple, Putin and Trump, now appears to be a desire to make territorial “swaps” the foundation of any ceasefire. And Trump is posing as Zelensky’s personal nemesis just as well as the dictator next door who actually attacked his country.
As Zelensky will not be in the “room where it happens” (even a last-minute invitation would underline that this is merely pro forma), he is consigned to the antechamber of a supportive European summit belatedly pledging more weapons. Before that benefit kicks in, however, the partition of parts of Ukraine – much of Donbas and Zaporizha as well as a “frozen conflict” status for occupied Crimea – looks unavoidable.
@theipaperLocal residents in Anchorage, Alaska, are preparing for the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Some residents say they are hopeful the event will put the state in the spotlight, while others are sceptical or plan to protest. The U.S President said that Kyiv and Moscow will both have to cede land to end the war in Ukraine and that talks with the Russian president this week will quickly reveal whether the Kremlin leader is willing to make a deal. European leaders and the Ukrainian president plan to speak with Trump before the summit in Alaska on Friday, amid fears that Washington may dictate unfavourable peace terms to Ukraine. Trump has recently hardened his stance towards Moscow by agreeing to allow additional U.S. weapons to reach Ukraine and threatening tariffs against buyers of Russian oil. But, concerns remain in Europe that he might agree to a deal requiring major concessions from Kyiv. #DonaldTrump #Russia #Ukraine #Europe
♬ original sound – The i Paper – The i PaperThe “you never should’ve started it” scolding re-embraced this week by Trump and fault-finding with Zelensky for saying that an unconditional ceasefire should be a prerequisite to any land deals amplifies a distorted message. It suits Putin’s intent to downgrade Ukraine’s autonomy (ultimately more important to the Kremlin than deals about minerals or tracts of land in industrial zones). And it says pretty explicitly that Trump’s “art of the deal” push for a result renders Zelensky’s resistance in 2022 as a waste of time and lives. This is nonsense: a Ukraine which yielded to Russia would have endured violence and subjugation and only encouraged Putin’s desire to recreate the former USSR.
Zelensky, while lionised abroad, has seen his popularity slump since his victory in 2019 and its heyday in 2023. If elections are part of the ceasefire deal, Russia will angle for a vote as soon as possible (which is funny in the darkest way, for a country which has not held functionally free elections in the entire Putin era and locked up or killed its key opponents). The circumstances will be chaotic, with so many voters displaced or outside the country.
square MICHAEL BURLEIGH The Art of the Deal, by Vladimir Putin
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Zelensky, by contrast, is under pressure from a tired population. “Who wants to be one of those guys who died in the trenches just before the armistice?” a Ukrainian friend who lost a brother in the war wrote in a text message to me.
The peak of his era has passed. A war of attrition, a power switch in the White House, and the tardiness of major military support from Europe have eroded the magic. But Zelensky’s war was not an excessive or pointless endeavour. Without the grit of a man who has defined the resistance to the brutality of Russia’s attacks, much more of Ukraine would be hostage to the Kremlin, physically and politically. And incentives to further invasions would be a fait accompli. He has also been a vital catalyst to an awakening of European security.
Events in Alaska, however, will determine whether the next phase of his rule oversees a land with freedom as its guiding light – or shackled by two external powers, united in cynicism.
Anne McElvoy is a former Moscow correspondent and executive editor of Politico
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