After the Trump-Putin summit, Europe must make a move
The aggressor of an independent country, Ukraine, which he claims as his own, and wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, Putin was treated on Friday by the United States with all the honors reserved for a respected leader of a major power. Greeted as he stepped off the plane by President Trump, invited to walk the red carpet with him to the American president's limousine and then invited inside, the Russian president clearly appreciated these gestures. To express his gratitude to Trump, he echoed two grievances dear to the Republican president: that the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden, was fraudulent, and that the war in Ukraine would never have started if Trump had been president.
As for the rest, while describing the meeting as very "productive" and on "the path to peace in Ukraine," Putin merely reiterated, during a brief joint appearance before the press, the "underlying causes" of his conflict with Ukraine. The talks lasted just over two and a half hours, whereas the Kremlin had planned for "six to seven hours" of discussions. The scheduled lunch did not take place, journalists were not allowed to ask questions and the exchanges apparently did not touch on commercial or economic matters, nor on arms control – contrary to Moscow's wishes.
For his part, Trump showered "Vladimir" with praise, calling him "a strong guy (...) tough as hell." He spoke of a "very productive" meeting where there were "many points that we agreed on," except for one, "probably the most significant," which he did not specify. The American president, who had threatened Russia just a few days earlier with "very severe consequences" if it failed to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine, stated on Fox News on Friday that the question of new sanctions was not under consideration for the time being, but that he might have to think about it in two or three weeks.
In light of this lack of results, the ball is now in the Europeans' court. On Saturday morning, Trump briefed them, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on his discussions and the points of agreement he mentioned. Even before speaking to them, he offered this advice to Zelensky on Fox News after the summit: "Make a deal!" From the way Putin and Trump presented matters in Anchorage, it can be inferred that the proposed "deal" is not in Kyiv's favor. Echoing Trump, Putin said he hoped the Europeans "won't throw a wrench in the works and not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the progress."
Keen not to miss any chance to end the war, the Ukrainian president nonetheless responded positively to the idea of a three-way meeting with Putin and Trump, and decided to travel to Washington on Monday to discuss it. The scenario Europeans have feared – a settlement hashed out behind their backs by the Russian and American leaders – cannot be ruled out. However, unlike Trump, Putin acknowledged that they, together with Kyiv, have cards to play. The time has come to use them, and to do so with resolve.
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LeMonde
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Zelensky says Russia refusing ceasefire 'complicates the situation'
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Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump – who had threatened "severe consequences" on Russia – and European leaders, including Zelensky, who will visit Washington on Monday. The shift away from ceasefire would seem to favor Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal – a strategy that Ukraine and its European allies have criticized as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances. Trump spoke with Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back to Washington, saying afterward that "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war." Ceasefire agreements "often times do not hold up," Trump added on his Truth Social platform. In the call, Trump expressed support for a proposal by Putin to take full control of two largely Russian-held Ukrainian regions in exchange for freezing the frontline in two others, an official briefed on the talks told AFP. Putin "de facto demands that Ukraine leave Donbas," an area consisting of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, the source said. In exchange, Russian forces would halt their offensive in the Black Sea port region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, whose main cities are still under Ukrainian control. Several months into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia in September 2022 claimed to have annexed all four Ukrainian regions even though its troops still do not fully control any of them. "The Ukrainian president refused to leave Donbas," the source said. Trump notably also said the United States was prepared to provide Ukraine security guarantees, an assurance German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed as "significant progress." But there was a scathing assessment of the summit outcome from the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accused Putin of seeking to "drag out negotiations" with no commitment to end the bloodshed. "The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon," Kallas said. Zelensky back in White House The main diplomatic focus now switches to Zelensky's talks at the White House on Monday. An EU source told AFP that a number of European leaders had also been invited to attend. The Ukrainian president's last Oval Office visit in February ended in an extraordinary shouting match, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berating Zelensky for not showing enough gratitude for US aid. Zelensky said Saturday after a "substantive" conversation with Trump about the Alaska summit that he looked forward to his Washington visit and discussing "all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war." In an interview with broadcaster Fox News after his sit-down with Putin, Trump had suggested that the onus was now on Zelensky to secure a peace deal as they work towards an eventual trilateral summit with Putin. "It's really up to President Zelensky to get it done," Trump said. "And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it's up to President Zelensky." European pressure The leaders of France, Britain and Germany are due to host a video call Sunday for their so-called "coalition of the willing" to discuss the way forward. In an earlier statement, they welcomed the plan for a Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit, but added that they would maintain pressure on Russia in the absence of a ceasefire. "We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia's war economy until there is a just and lasting peace," the statement said. 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Sylvie Kauffmann: 'Putin can pretend to negotiate and engage in endless talks that never lead anywhere'
A bilateral meeting lasting under three hours, followed by a 12-minute joint press conference with no announcements: The Friday, August 15, summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska left many questions unanswered. By Saturday morning, as European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began reacting, Le Monde columnist Sylvie Kauffmann spoke with readers during our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Pierre: Diplomacy is sometimes a theater, with each side seeking to claim success and assign blame in case of failure. Trump had gotten us used to breaking with tradition. Today, he is acting out a classic scenario. Isn't that already a sign that this summit has failed? Sylvie Kauffmann: Calling the summit a failure depends on what was expected of it. If people were hoping Vladimir Putin would commit to a serious ceasefire, then yes, it was clearly a failure. But I do not think that was a reasonable expectation. At this stage, with no results announced, it is neither a success nor a failure. We will have to judge based on the reactions of Europeans, so far very cautious, and the Trump-Zelensky meeting on Monday. There is, however, a significant risk, well known to Europeans: Putin can buy time by pretending to be ready to negotiate and engage in endless talks that never lead anywhere, while his army continues to gain ground and bomb Ukraine. That was essentially the tactic he used after the annexation of Crimea and the first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, during the Minsk negotiations with France, Germany and Ukraine. Let's discuss: How should we interpret the welcome given to President Putin as he came off his plane – with the red carpet, applause and a show of military strength featuring American jets in the background? S.K.: Trump is fascinated by Putin as a figure – he generally gets along well with "strongmen," but he is particularly interested in the Russian leader. He calls him by his first name, Vladimir, which he never does with Zelensky. All of this staging, on a US military base, was meant both to demonstrate American power to Putin and to treat him as the leader of another major power, worthy of every honor. This treatment is all the more ironic since Putin is not only the aggressor of an independent country, in violation of international law, but also subject to an arrest warrant for war crimes. Dodochampion: On the Russian side, did this summit have any other ambitions beyond relaunching Russia's international trade? S.K.: Putin's goal at this summit was first to gain respectability and second to buy time. On both counts, he succeeded: The welcome by the US president on American soil, with great ceremony, rehabilitated him on the international stage, even if he is a pariah in Europe. Furthermore, by engaging in this form of dialogue with Trump, he managed to get the ultimatums and the threat of further sanctions against Russia lifted – at least for the time being: Trump said on Fox News that the issue of sanctions was off the table for two or three weeks. That matters to Putin because the Russian economy is showing serious signs of weakness. And in the meantime, he can keep bombing Ukraine and continue his offensive in the east of the country. On the other hand, Putin failed to turn this meeting into a major Russo-American summit on economic and trade relations or on strategic dialogue regarding arms control. Nice: The statements from Trump and Putin were devoid of substance, suggesting there was no progress. On the US side, shouldn't this lead to a North Korea scenario – that is, the United States losing interest in the matter (and leaving it to the Europeans)? S.K.: Yes, that's possible. Several American experts have drawn a parallel with the 2018 Trump-Kim Jong-un meeting, in which Trump invested a great deal (with the difference that he also wanted to invite Kim to ride with him in The Beast, the presidential limousine, but at the time his advisers convinced him not to – which was not the case with Putin...). Then he lost interest in the North Korea issue after there was no progress. If Trump decides to lose interest in the Ukrainian issue, it will be up to the Europeans to handle it alone. The question then is what level of American military assistance they can still count on, particularly in intelligence and satellite reconnaissance. But they now know that under Trump, the US will disengage from Europe. Vice President JD Vance stated clearly last week that the US would no longer fund Ukraine's defense. So the dynamic is clear. Patrick: Don't you think Trump's attitude puts the US in a position of weakness? It's obvious Trump is afraid of Putin, which puts the latter in a position of strength, with the likely consequence of destabilizing the West for Russia's benefit. What cards does the West have left to ensure its own survival and that of Ukraine? S.K.: You raise a crucial point, but first, speaking of "the West" raises the question of whether that concept still exists under Trump. Clearly, the fate of Ukraine does not have the same meaning or importance for the current Washington administration as it does for the majority of Europeans. For Europe, Ukraine's survival as a sovereign and independent state is existential; for Trump's America, it is not. Yes, the American president is impressed by Putin, and that may seem like a weakness to us, but he sees Putin as a "strong" leader of another major power that, incidentally, has "a lot of land, a lot of rare earths and oil," and with whom he believes he can do "great things," as he has said. The cards the Europeans can play are unity and firmness, particularly in defense, a field where they have a lot of ground to make up, but which they have started to address. That will require significant political effort.
