The spree of diplomacy initiated by President Donald Trump to try and bring the Russia-Ukraine war to a close has unveiled a complex dynamic wherein structural factors outweigh individual leaders and the personal chemistry among them. It would be wishful thinking that, if only Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin could conjure up some magic through their uncanny mutual admiration, and then draw Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and regional bigwigs into a charmed circle, the worst war in Europe since 1945 might be halted.

The ugly reality is that Russian bombs and missiles are continuing to rain down on Ukraine even as Trump, Putin, Zelensky and European heads of government embarked on an extended exercise of in-person meetings and consultations to find a resolution. The aftermath of the high-profile Trump-Putin summit in Alaska and the subsequent US-Ukraine-Europe gathering in Washington proves that wars reflect competing structural interests and these interests prevent easy and instantaneous fairytale endings.

Readers may recall the three unprecedented meetings between Trump and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019, which eventually yielded no deal on denuclearisation due to dissonance of interests. Both at the Alaska summit, and subsequently the large group meetings in Washington among the US, Ukraine and the Europeans, effusive praise, positive body language and expressions of sincere intent to turn a page could not mask the underlying mismatch in the goals of the principal parties.

For Trump, apart........

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