By David Kirichenko

“How do you think the meeting in Alaska between Putin and Trump will go?” a commander of a mortar unit from Ukraine’s 92nd Assault Brigade wrote to me a few days before Friday’s summit.

I told him it would unfold exactly as most people are predicting, which was a massive PR victory for Vladimir Putin, while the West would walk away empty-handed. The only thing Putin offered in return was his hardline stance that Ukraine must be annihilated, as he continued to reference the “root causes” of the war.

The contrast could not have been more striking: Vladimir Putin was welcomed with a red-carpet reception in Alaska on Friday, while just months earlier, Donald Trump was sparring with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

After weeks of Trump demanding a ceasefire in Ukraine, his administration now appears to be the only side making concessions, announcing that Washington will no longer insist on a ceasefire, but will work towards a peace deal.

The Kremlin stuck to its guns and is seemingly making the exact same demands as it had been in 2022.

As a result, Putin walked away from the Alaska summit as the clear winner. By pretending to engage in talks and floating unrealistic proposals, the Kremlin has managed to turn the tables and push blame toward Kyiv. It’s a tactic that has worked repeatedly since the start of Trump’s administration.

As a former KGB man, Putin flatters Trump with praise, carefully leveraging the relationship to draw him closer to Moscow’s line. The cycle has become familiar over the past months. Trump soon shifts the blame for the war onto Biden and Zelensky. One Ukrainian intelligence officer said Trump was “unbelievably aggressive” in trying to pressure Kyiv to give away territory to the invading Russians.

Steve Witkoff

© LBC