Trump–Putin Summit Dampens Hopes for Russia-Ukraine Peace

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Alaska summit saw Putin impressing Trump personally but failing to secure major concessions, as nuclear fears shape Trump’s stance on Ukraine

By TRH Global Affairs Desk

NEW DELHI, August 16, 2025 —The highly anticipated Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has drawn comparisons to the 2018 Helsinki meeting, with political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya calling it “Helsinki 2”—a spectacle that boosted Putin’s image but delivered few tangible outcomes.

Writing on X, Stanovaya noted that while Trump appeared visibly impressed by Putin, as he had been in 2018, the substance of the talks was thin. “The main outcome is the emotional effect Putin can impose on him. But this has limits,” she wrote, stressing that Trump respected Putin yet disagreed with his vision for ending the war in Ukraine.

According to Stanovaya, the most significant result was Trump’s reinforced belief that Russia cannot be defeated, largely due to its nuclear capabilities—a factor that makes him reluctant to align fully with Europe’s position. “Trump has always been unusually sensitive to Russia’s nuclear status,” she observed, adding that this explains why he does not believe Ukraine can win a war against a nuclear power.

On policy, results were minimal. Trump and Putin outlined areas of agreement and disagreement, pledged to continue talks, but avoided any breakthrough. A second summit was floated, though Stanovaya doubts it will happen given how far apart their positions remain.

Putin, she argued, sought to enlist Trump’s support to pressure Kyiv into engaging with Russia’s memorandum, but did not succeed. Instead, Trump seems to be shifting responsibility toward Kyiv and Europe while maintaining a role for himself as a potential broker.

For now, Stanovaya concluded, the situation remains largely unchanged: the war continues, a ceasefire remains on the table, and Kyiv will face stronger US pressure to negotiate—but not enough to force Ukraine into accepting Moscow’s terms.

Meanwhile, Defense Priorities stated that “there is still a long road ahead to end the war. Putin and Trump described their discussions as honest and productive, and the two sides may have reached consensus on some of the issues that continue to block progress toward peace.”

It stressed that “Putin made no concessions in his post-summit remarks, continuing to focus on Russia’s security concerns and alluding to the unaddressed root causes of the war. Fighting is likely to continue for some time, as Putin has no incentive to end the war while he has a military advantage, especially as Ukraine’s frontlines seem on the verge of collapse in some places.”

The analyst noted that the “summit may have revitalized diplomatic energy around ending the war, but a ceasefire seems a long way off.”

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