Trump-Putin Summit, The Nobel Peace Prize And Other Imponderables
The Russia-Ukraine war faces significant obstacles to ending, primarily due to the conflicting territorial and political demands of both sides. Ukraine insists on reclaiming all its lost territories, including Crimea, and will not renounce its intention of becoming a NATO member. Russia, on the other hand, seeks sweeping political changes in Kyiv and aims to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO. These fundamental disagreements create a deadlock that makes a negotiated settlement extremely difficult. Neither side is willing to end the war on terms that are acceptable to the other side.
Against this background, President Donald Trump said he'll be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, 15th August, in Alaska, to work out a potential peace deal to end the war in Ukraine that could include 'some swapping of territories." Trump's announcement came on the day which he had set as the deadline for Putin to make peace or face severe economic punishment.
Trump posted on Truth Social: 'The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow".
India has said that it 'welcomes the understanding reached between the United States and the Russian Federation for a meeting in Alaska on 15th August 2025", and that 'this meeting holds the promise of bringing to an end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and opening up the prospects for peace."
Being India's Independence Day, 15th August is a very auspicious day for all Indians, and one cannot but hope that it proves auspicious for the Ukrainians and Russians also.
China's President Xi Jinping has also said he is pleased to see Moscow maintain contact with the United States to advance a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis.
However, while President Trump is pushing for a potential ceasefire agreement that could end Russia's three-year war against Ukraine, the huge divergence between the Russian and Ukrainian positions will make it extremely difficult to bring the conflict to an end.
Trump and Putin had last met in 2019 on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka and have not met since then. Moreover, Putin has not visited the US since 2015 when he attended the UN General Assembly meeting. Interestingly, in his address to the General Assembly, Putin had stressed 'the vital importance of respecting State sovereignty" and had said that 'many of the crises facing the world have been exacerbated by countries acting against sovereign States outside the UN Charter!" Ironically, Putin is now widely accused of undermining Ukraine's sovereignty, and this has been a central accusation throughout the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict which escalated into a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Trump said he would hold a meeting with Putin regardless of whether the Russian leader agrees to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky. A White House press official had earlier said that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky was a precondition to a meeting between Putin and Trump, but Putin had rejected the idea of meeting Zelensky.
In May 2025, Putin had similarly declined to meet with Zelenskyy during talks in Turkey and instead sent a lower-level delegation led by Presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky. Ahead of the planned Trump-Putin summit, Putin reiterated that the conditions were not yet in place for a meeting with Zelensky, although Trump had suggested a trilateral summit earlier.
Russian officials have stated that high-level talks require meticulous preparation and that Putin would only consider a meeting during the final stages of peace negotiations or after a draft agreement has been reached. Russian media and officials have frequently sought to undermine Zelensky's legitimacy, viewing him as a 'loser" and a 'clown," and claiming he is not a valid negotiating partner. Some analysts suggest that Putin doesn't want to appear pressured into a meeting on Zelensky's terms, as it could be seen as backing down, especially after Zelensky's ultimatums. In essence, while Zelensky has expressed willingness to meet with Putin, Putin has consistently resisted the idea, citing the lack of necessary preconditions and portraying Zelensky as an illegitimate negotiating partner.
US officials have reportedly briefed their Ukrainian counterparts on a plan offered by Putin to halt the war in Ukraine in exchange for significant territorial concessions by Kyiv. This plan would require Ukraine to cede the eastern Donbas region — the majority of which is currently occupied by Russia — as well as Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Putin reportedly presented this plan to Trump's foreign envoy Steve Witkoff in a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday. It wasn't clear what the plan would mean for two other regions in Ukraine —Zaporizhzhya and Kherson — where Russia controls some territory, beyond Russia stopping its offensive there.
Ukraine's President Zelensky has totally rejected the idea of making any territorial concessions and ceding any territory. In a video address after Trump's announcement about the forthcoming meeting with Putin, Zelensky said that Ukraine is 'also ready to work together with President Trump," but vowed that his people 'will not give their land to the occupier." Zelensky said: 'Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. These are dead decisions. They will never work. And we all need a real, living peace that people will respect."
In a video shared on social media, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready for 'real decisions" that could bring a 'dignified peace" but stressed there could be no violation of the constitution on territorial issues. He also said, 'The answer to the Ukrainian territorial issue is already in the Constitution of Ukraine. No one will and cannot deviate from this. Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier."
Therefore, Ukraine's government and people are unlikely to accept ceding any territory to Russia, especially given the high political and human costs of such a concession. They also prioritize NATO membership as a security guarantee. On the other hand, Russia insists on maintaining control over territories it currently occupies and demands significant political concessions from Ukraine, including a neutral status that effectively excludes NATO membership. Putin's vision for the war also includes subjugating Ukraine and preventing it from having the right to join NATO, making even a temporary ceasefire difficult.
It seems that Putin has framed the war as an existential struggle for his legacy, making it difficult for him to concede without appearing defeated. He has even made it clear that his intentions in this war are to subjugate Ukraine, deprive it of sovereignty and prevent it from having the right to join NATO. Despite the economic and human costs of the war, Putin's popularity remains relatively high, potentially encouraging him to maintain the conflict rather than seek a negotiated settlement.
Moreover, deep-seated mistrust between Russia and Ukraine, as well as between Russia and the West, makes it challenging to build confidence for negotiations. A 'frozen conflict" scenario could be on the cards, where fighting ceases but the underlying issues remain unresolved. It would require Ukraine to dedicate significant resources to defense and rebuilding. Ukraine faces significant economic and demographic challenges, including a heavily indebted economy and a rapidly ageing population, which will impact its ability to recover from the war.
Trump's desire to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end is also linked to his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. In his inaugural address on January 20 this year, Trump had said 'My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That's what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier". He has repeatedly said that this was the reputation he wanted recorded in the history books. It is no secret that he covets the Nobel Peace Prize.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Jul 31: 'It's well past time that President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." However, India declined to officially comment on the US's pitch for Donald Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, suggesting that the question be directed to the White House.
Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize multiple times since 2018 but is yet to win it. Pakistan said in June that it would nominate him for the award for his role in helping to end its conflict with India. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Cambodia's prime minister also said that he has nominated US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, lauding his 'extraordinary statesmanship" in halting a border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand.
Now, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday also jointly threw their weight behind US president Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, following a landmark peace agreement between the two longtime rivals. Both these leaders credited Trump's mediation for ending decades of conflict and called on the Nobel committee to recognise his efforts. Aliyev asked, 'Who, if not President Trump, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize" while Pashinyan described Trump as the 'peacemaker" behind the 'breakthrough" and said that the US President 'deserved the Nobel."
There are many who may dispute Trump's claim to the Nobel Peace prize, but the Nobel Peace Prize is no stranger to controversy. Criticisms that have been leveled against some of the awards include allegations that they were politically motivated, premature, or guided by a faulty definition of what constitutes work for peace. As the New York Times stated in an article on May 4, 2018, the Nobel Committee 'began choosing winners in 1901, and for almost as long, some of its choices have been assailed as politicised, parochial or just misguided."
Donald Trump has an obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize for several reasons such as a craving for international prestige and a decade-long rivalry with former US president Barack Obama who won this prize in 2009.
In fact, Obama's Nobel Peace Prize also faced a wave of criticism. He received the prize in the first year of his presidency, which some considered too early. Critics pointed out that Obama's presidency was still in its early stages and that he hadn't yet demonstrated the concrete achievements in peace and diplomacy that typically accompany a Nobel Peace Prize. Moreover, it raised questions about the selection due to the Obama administration's involvement in wars in Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen.
The 1994 prize went to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzak Rabin 'for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East". Kåre Kristiansen, a member of the Nobel Committee, resigned in protest at Arafat's award, citing his sponsorship of terrorism through the PLO and calling him the 'world's most prominent terrorist".
The 2012 prize went to the European Union for having 'over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe". Some former laureates disputed the award, claiming that the EU is 'clearly not a champion of peace"!
If Trump won the prize, he would be the fifth US President to do so, after Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama. Interestingly, Trump had this to say: 'No, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that's all that matters to me."
The Washington Post had commented on July 15 this year that " The road to President Donald Trump's highly coveted Nobel Peace Prize might ultimately run through Ukraine". It had also said that 'Trump's approach to the Ukraine conflict has lacked a coherent strategy." In any case, the Russia-Ukraine war's complexity and the deeply entrenched positions of both sides, combined with the potential for shifts in the global political landscape, make ending the conflict a formidable challenge. Zelensky has already said that the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska will achieve nothing, that Ukraine will not cede any territory and that any peace deal excluding Kiev would lead to 'dead solutions."
Thus, despite Trump's Summit meeting with Putin next week, ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict is going to be extremely difficult due to the significant disagreements on key issues and a lack of trust between the two sides. Neither side is willing to compromise on their core demands, making a peaceful resolution a highly complex challenge.
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However, good luck President Trump!
The writer is a retired Indian diplomat and had previously served as Consul General in New York. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
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August 14, 2025, 15:07 IST
News opinion Opinion | Trump-Putin Summit, The Nobel Peace Prize And Other Imponderables
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