Trump and Putin to spar over Ukraine peace at summit

West Australian

3 days ago

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are holding talks in Alaska, with the US president's hopes of sealing a ceasefire agreement on Ukraine uncertain but with a last-gasp offer from Putin of a possible nuclear deal that could help both men save face.
The meeting of the Russian and US leaders at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska will be their first face-to-face talks since Trump returned to the White House and comes amid Ukrainian and European fears that Trump might sell out Kyiv.
The White House said the meeting would take place at 11am on Friday (5am on Saturday AEST).
Trump, who once said he would end Russia's war in Ukraine within 24 hours, said on Thursday the three-and-a-half-year conflict had proven a tougher nut to crack than he had thought.
He said if his talks with Putin went well, setting up a subsequent three-way summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy - who was not invited to Friday's meeting - would be even more important than his encounter with Putin.
Trump is pressing for a truce to bolster his credentials as a global peacemaker worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, something he has made clear is important to him.
Ukraine and its European allies were heartened by their conference call on Wednesday in which, they said, Trump agreed Ukraine must be involved in any talks about ceding land.
Zelenskiy said Trump had also supported the idea of security guarantees in a postwar settlement, although the US president has made no public mention of them.
Wednesday's call eased their fears of a Trump-Putin deal that would leave Ukraine under pressure to make territorial and other concessions.
Putin, whose war economy is showing signs of strain, needs Trump to help Russia break out of its straitjacket of ever-tightening Western sanctions, or at least not hit Moscow with more sanctions, something Trump has threatened.
The day before the summit, the Kremlin leader held out the prospect of something else he knows Trump wants - a new nuclear arms control agreement to replace the last surviving one, which is due to expire in February 2026.
Trump said on the eve of the summit that he thought Putin would do a deal on Ukraine, but he has blown hot and cold on the chances of a breakthrough.
Putin, meanwhile, praised what he called "sincere efforts" by the US to end the war.
The Russian leader has set stringent conditions for a full ceasefire, but one compromise could be a phased truce in the air war, although both sides have accused the other of flouting a previous accord.
Zelenskiy has accused Putin of bluffing and playing for time to avoid US secondary sanctions and has ruled out handing Moscow any territory.
Trump has said land transfers between Russia and Ukraine could be a possible way of breaking the logjam.
Putin, whose forces control nearly one fifth of Ukraine, wants Trump to start reviving the two countries' shrunken ties and, ideally, not to make that process contingent on progress on Ukraine.
But it is unclear whether Putin is willing to compromise on Ukraine.
In power for a quarter of a century, the Kremlin chief has staked his legacy on coming out of the war with something he can sell to his people as a victory.
Chief among his war aims is complete Russian control over the Donbas industrial region in eastern Ukraine, comprising Donetsk and Luhansk.
Despite steady advances, a quarter of Donetsk remains beyond Russian control.
Putin also wants full control of Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, NATO membership to be taken off the table for Kyiv, and limits on the size of Ukraine's armed forces.
Ukraine says these terms are unacceptable and tantamount to asking it to capitulate.