Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump flanked by some of their respective delegations during the 2025 Russia–United States Summit in Anchorage, Alaska. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Now that the dust has settled, it’s possible to draw some conclusions about the outcome of the flurry of diplomatic activity over the past week surrounding the war in Ukraine. And the conclusions are not altogether positive.

Perhaps the most significant result of last Friday’s summit (which I previewed in Canadian Dimension) between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was the latter’s acceptance of the former’s position that peace negotiations should precede a ceasefire, rather than vice versa. This represents a reversal of Trump’s previous position and a blow to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies, who have long been insisting the opposite.

For a long time, Zelensky rejected the idea of any sort of ceasefire or negotiations, and only accepted the idea of an unconditional 30-day ceasefire due to pressure from Trump. Having done so, it then became a fixed Ukrainian-European position, due to a recognition that such an outcome would decidedly favour Ukraine, as it would give it a military respite and allow it to recover its strength and avoid making any political concessions.

For those very reasons, the ceasefire-before-negotiations position was never going to be accepted by Russia. Trump’s abandonment of it represents a bow to reality. If serious peace talks are to start, it is almost certain that they will have to do so while fighting is still going on.

It’s not clear, though, whether either Zelensky or the Europeans accept this. Speaking on Wednesday, Zelensky said that he was ready for “some compromise” on the........

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