What Ukrainians expect of the Putin-Trump summit – DW – 08/13/2025
Soon after the August 15 meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska was announced, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put out a video warning against excluding his country from the talks: "Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine, are decisions made against peace. They will not work."
Many Ukrainians share this view, according to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in late July and early August. "Ukrainians remain open to negotiations and making difficult decisions," Anton Hruschezkyj of KIIS told DW. "The absolute majority, however, continues to reject demands for [Ukrainian] surrender."
According to the survey, 76% of Ukrainians reject Russia's "peace plan" and the idea of making concessions to Russia. At the same time, 49% oppose the US peace plan that entails security guarantees for Ukraine from European countries but not from the US, recognizes Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, maintains Russian control over Ukraine's occupied territories, and lifts sanctions against Russia.
Ukrainians do not rule out that the upcoming negotiations between Putin and Trump, which will not have Ukrainian or European representatives present, will be aimed at forcing Ukraine to capitulate.
"The Russians never changed their negotiating stance and will not do so as long as they do not suffer serious military and political defeats," Volodymyr Horbach of the Ukrainian Institute for Northern Eurasia Transformation (INET) told DW.
The fact that Trump is talking to Putin without first pressuring Russia to change its stance shows that this approach is doomed to failure, Horbach says.
"The Russians will stick to their position and want to offer a ceasefire in return for Ukraine's de facto surrender, in other words, fulfilling Russian demands. So calling this concessions is very naive," Horbach said.
The analyst does not regard the upcoming Putin-Trump talks as a disaster, but says they signal an "alarming trend" as Trump is "legitimizing Russian war criminal Vladimir Putin, which is unacceptable to Ukraine and Europe." Horbach said he sees "no possibility of implementing any real, practical outcomes of these negotiations in the context of the Ukrainian-Russian war. The proposals that Putin may make will satisfy neither Ukraine nor the European Union." He added that "Trump will have to maneuver, he will not be able to force Ukraine and its European partners to accept Putin's terms."
Ukraine was in a similar situation in March 2025, says Dmytro Levus, who heads the Ukrainian Meridian Social Research Center. At the time, Donald Trump believed that the war could be quickly ended by negotiating with Russia and enforcing a peace agreement based on Ukraine's surrender. Lifting sanctions on Russia, however, proved impossible, as most of them had been imposed by the Europeans, Levus said.
He believes that after this Alaska meeting, the US and Russia will once again have to face reality — Ukrainian forces continue defending their country and Ukrainian's European partners will not unconditionally accept and implement any deal agreed between Putin and Trump.
"Ukraine's position, as stated by Zelenskyy, is clear and correct: the [Ukrainian] constitution does not allow for the ceding of [Ukrainian] territory," Levus told DW. "That is why I do not expect anything meaningful to come out of the Alaska meeting."
Iryna Herashchenko, one of the leaders of Ukraine's opposition European Solidarity Party, says the Putin-Trump meeting represents a challenge for the entire international security system. She explains that it would signal to the whole world that violence can go unpunished if Russia, the aggressor, is rewarded for its attack on Ukraine, for annexing parts of the country and for committing war crimes. That is why Herashchenko says recognizing Russian occupation is a red line that must not be crossed.
"This would pave the way for new wars, not only in our region," Herashchenko said on Telegram. "That is why all negotiations should be conducted with the participation of Ukraine and the EU, with strict security guarantees, international monitoring, and provisions for sanctions." Anything else would not bring peace, but only lead to new war.
Danylo Hetmantsev of Ukraine's rulingServant of the People party takes a more positive view of the upcoming talks, saying the summit will finally reveal Russia's stance.
"If there are once again attempts at 'diplomatic maneuvering' instead of productive negotiations at the meeting, this will likely lead to the imposition of tough American sanctions, including on Russia's allies, who will have to pay for supporting the aggressor, which they will not like," Hetmantsev said on Telegram.
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At the same time, Ukrainian experts do not rule out that the US will once again try blackmailing Ukraine into accepting unacceptable conditions after the Putin-Trump summit.
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy lecturer and Ukrainian Prism think tank researcher Oleksandr Kraiev believes that Trump could threaten to halt arms deliveries to Ukraine.
"But [weapons] deliveries are already sporadic and unsystematic, so it won't be as much of a shock as when Trump first announced something like this," Kraiev told DW.
He believes the summit will be purely held for the "sake of talks," as neither side has any real idea of how the war should end. "There could be a joint statement on continuing the talks, but that's all," Kraiev said.
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