Anxiety Grips Kyiv And Brussels On Eve Of Trump-Putin Summit In Alaska

By Todd Prince August 15, 2025

As Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump prepare to meet in Alaska for a high-stakes summit to discuss ending the 43-month-old war in Ukraine, a deep feeling of unease is gripping European capitals, especially Kyiv.

The August 15 meeting between the two leaders, their first since Trump returned to the presidency in January, could reshape not only Ukraine's future borders but also European security without either Kyiv or Brussels having a say.

Trump has made ending the conflict -- Europe's largest since World War II -- a top foreign policy priority. Confident in his deal-making skills and friendly relationship with Putin, Trump believes that goal can be achieved starting with the one-to-one meeting announced only a week ago.

Since then Western officials and experts have expressed concern that Trump, who eschews traditional diplomatic procedures in favor of deal making, will be outwitted by Putin, who has more that a quarter century of experience negotiating with Western leaders.

When he told reporters that he and Putin will discuss the possibility of land swaps between Russia and Ukraine, the anxiety level rose over fears that he could recognize the Kremlin's land grab, appeasing the aggressor.

The surprise announcement of the summit sent Ukrainian and European leaders scrambling to get face time with Trump. While European leaders expressed a sigh of relief following a conference call with Trump on August 13, what the 79-year-old US leader will agree to in Alaska is anyone's guess, experts said.

"I think it's really worth noting how remarkable it is that there is such a high degree of uncertainty of what's going to come out of this meeting," said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

"It has been exceptionally difficult to gauge what President Trump's views on Ukraine are, in large part because there have been flip flops and U-turns, and it has been inconsistent from start to finish," she said on August 14 in a conference call with reporters.

Trump, who has expressed admiration for Putin over the years, tore into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February during a meeting in the Oval Office that shocked the Western world.

A few months later, Trump was focusing his ire on Putin for not agreeing to his demand for a 30-day cease-fire. Despite his rhetoric and threats of sanctions, Trump hasn't imposed any penalties on Russia to date. Kendall-Taylor said that is a sign that Trump's affinity is still with Russia and Putin.

On the eve of the summit, Trump continued to keep everyone guessing about its outcome. As he played down the chances for any breakthrough in Alaska, Trump told Fox News that Putin's "going to make a deal."

He also told Fox News that he might be willing to stay in Alaska for a three-way meeting, including Zelenskyy, if he makes progress with the Russian leader.

Zelenskyy on August 14 was in in London to discuss security with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a show of British support. He and other European leaders want to ensure their interests are taken into account when Trump and Putin meet.

In Moscow, Putin praised Trump's efforts to end the war in a short video released by the Kremlin, saying the White House is making "quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities" and to "reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved."

But there is plenty of skepticism about Putin's true intentions to match the high degree of anxiety in Ukraine.

"Already the fact that this meeting is happening is not playing in Ukraine's favor," said Olga Tokariuk, a fellow with the Democratic Resilience Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

The opposite is true for Russia "because it legitimizes Putin," Tokariuk said, speaking during a conference call on August 14. "He gets a meeting with the US president on the US soil without any concessions on his side."

The worst-case scenario would be if Ukraine is forced to make some territorial concessions without any security guarantees in return, said Tokariuk. Ukraine worries that this would only lead to renewed Russian aggression within a couple of months.

"If there is no accountability for Russia for having started this full-scale war in 2022 that will just encourage Russia to come back for more," Tokariuk said.

Kendall-Taylor said that one risk for Ukraine is that Putin might be able to "reframe" Trump's view of Zelenskyy as the barrier to ending the war.

The danger is that if Putin talks about his genuine desire to end the war and makes some "reasonable looking proposals that Ukraine will have to reject," Zelenskyy could find himself back in Trump's crosshairs as the obstinate and uncompromising figure," said Kendall-Taylor, who served as deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the US National Intelligence Council from 2015-2018.

There is also skepticism that threatening Putin with tariffs is enough to curb his territorial ambitions. Trump will have to be forceful, said Richard Haas, a former high-ranking State Department official who helped negotiate peace deals on behalf of the United States under previous administrations.

"If you really want to change Putin's calculus you've got to disabuse Putin of one notion that time is on his side, [and] that by continuing this war Russia will gradually grind and grind and grind and get what it wants," Haas said in an interview with US broadcaster CBS. "All President Trump has to do is say, 'Vlad, ain't gonna happen.'"

The talks come at a pivotal moment, with Trump increasingly frustrated with Putin and the Russian president showing no signs of bending on the Kremlin's maximalist demands. Trump and Putin have held six phone calls, and the White House's lead envoy has traveled to Moscow at least three times.

Zelenskyy said he and Starmer discussed "in considerable detail" the security guarantees that Ukraine has said would be necessary for it to agree to a cease-fire.

Trump said in his Fox News interview that if he called Zelenskyy for a three-way meeting with himself and Putin, it would be "very, very important, because that's going to be a meeting where they make a deal." He also again alluded to territorial swaps.

"I don't want to use the word 'divvy things up,' but you know, to a certain extent, it's not a bad term, OK?" he said.

Trump previously said to end the conflict both sides will have to swap land to end intense fighting that has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides and displaced millions of Ukrainians.

But French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump was "very clear" in a call on August 13 that he wants to achieve a cease-fire at the summit and that Trump had been clear that "territorial issues relating to Ukraine...will only be negotiated by the Ukrainian president."

"Trump's thinking is apparently closer aligned with that of the Europeans than first feared by some," one European official told RFE/RL after the call.

Trump has warned Russia of "very severe consequences" if it doesn't halt its war against Ukraine but has given no details on what consequences Moscow could face.

If Trump's insistence on involving Ukraine is confirmed, it would help ease fears among Ukraine, but Russia has consistently given the idea of a meeting with Zelenskyy the cold shoulder, suggesting it should only happen once the sides are close to signing a peace deal, not just a cease-fire agreement.

That moment seems far off given the huge gap between the Russian and Ukrainian positions that persists on several major issues, including territory and security, despite three rounds of direct talks in Turkey since mid-May.

RFE/RL Washington correspondent Todd Prince and Europe editor Rikard Jozwiak contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-trump-ukraine-alaska- zelenskyy-war-summit/33503732.html

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Anxiety Grips Kyiv And Brussels On Eve Of Trump-Putin Summit In Alaska