The recent Trump and Putin summit in Alaska is shaping the context for Ukraine’s next high-stakes moment in Washington. President Donald Trump, fresh from talks with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, has signaled that Kyiv could end the war “almost immediately” if it accepts a settlement that excludes NATO membership and the return of Crimea.
The Alaska meeting delivered one key development. Moscow showed tentative willingness to back a United States led security guarantee that mirrors NATO’s Article 5 protection for Ukraine. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff described it as a concession, although critics argue it falls short of NATO’s binding defense pact. European leaders worry that Trump’s readiness to strike a deal signals a shift toward transactional diplomacy that legitimizes Russia’s territorial control. Ahead of his White House visit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected concessions, saying that earlier compromises such as the loss of Crimea in 2014 only encouraged further Russian aggression. French President Emmanuel Macron reinforced this view, stressing that weakness toward Moscow would only create conditions for future conflicts.
While Trump describes Alaska as a breakthrough, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged caution, noting that major disagreements remain. The Alaska summit has underlined the divide between Washington’s transactional calculations and Europe’s security driven approach
