Trump drops ceasefire demand, adopts Putin's position on Ukraine
Donald Trump
on Saturday dropped his push for a
ceasefire
in
Ukraine
in favor of pursuing a full peace accord – a major shift announced hours after his summit with Russian leader
Vladimir Putin
yielded no clear breakthrough.
Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump and European leaders including Ukraine's
Volodymyr Zelensky
, who will now hold talks with the US president in Washington on Monday.
The shift away from an urgent 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 criticised as a way to buy time and press home Russia's battlefield advances.
'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, and not a mere ceasefire agreement, which often times do not hold up,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform after the Alaska talks.
Before the summit, Trump had warned of 'severe consequences' if Moscow did not accept a ceasefire.
In a call with European leaders on his flight back to Washington, Trump said the US was prepared to provide security guarantees for Ukraine – 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.
The New York Times, citing two European officials briefed on Trump's call with European leaders, said the president had expressed support for Putin's proposal for Ukraine to cede territory it controls to Russia in exchange for an eventual ceasefire.
Zelensky back in White House
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on August 18, 2025. © Ben Stansall, AFP (File)
The main diplomatic focus now switches to Zelensky's talks with Trump in Washington on Monday.
An EU source told AFP that a number of European leaders had also been invited to attend.
The Ukrainian president's last visit to the White House 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 help against the Russian invasion.
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 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.
Czechoslovakia in 1938 with Sudetenland. Weiner Holocaust Library.
The deal struck by the then British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, and his French counterpart, Édouard Daladier, with the German leader Adolf Hitler handed Hitler territory in Germany's neighbour Czechoslovakia in return for what Chamberlain erroneously boasted would be 'peace in our time'. Within months Nazi Germany would take control of much of the rest of Czechoslovakia and in less than a year the whole of Europe would be at war.
'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.'
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.
Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine raged on, with Kyiv announcing Saturday that Russia had launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile during the night.
Back in Moscow, Putin said his summit talks with Trump had been 'timely' and 'very useful.'
'The conversation was very frank, substantive, and, in my opinion, brings us closer to the necessary decisions,' he said.
In his post-summit statement in Alaska, Putin had warned Ukraine and European countries not to engage in any 'behind-the-scenes intrigues' that could disrupt what he called 'this emerging progress.'
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ya Libnan
12 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Outline emerges of Putin's offer to end his war in Ukraine
By Tom Balmforth Summary LONDON- Russia would relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine and Kyiv would cede swathes of its eastern land which Moscow has been unable to capture, under peace proposals discussed by Russia's Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at their Alaska summit, sources briefed on Moscow's thinking said. The account emerged the day after Trump and Putin met at an airforce base in Alaska, the first encounter between a U.S. president and the Kremlin chief since before the start of the Ukraine conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is due to travel to Washington on Monday to discuss with Trump a possible settlement of the full-scale war, which Putin launched in February 2022. Although the summit failed to secure the ceasefire he said he had wanted, Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had 'largely agreed'. 'I think we're pretty close to a deal,' he said, adding: 'Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they'll say 'no'.' The two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said their knowledge of Putin's proposals was mostly based on discussions between leaders in Europe, the U.S. and Ukraine, and noted it was not complete. Trump briefed Zelenskiy and European leaders on his summit discussions early on Saturday. It was not immediately clear if the proposals by Putin were an opening gambit to serve as a starting point for negotiations or more like a final offer that was not subject to discussion. UKRAINIAN LAND FOR PEACE At face value, at least some of the demands would present huge challenges for Ukraine's leadership to accept. Putin's offer ruled out a ceasefire until a comprehensive deal is reached, blocking a key demand of Zelenskiy, whose country is hit daily by Russian drones and ballistic missiles. Under the proposed Russian deal, Kyiv would fully withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in return for a Russian pledge to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the sources said. Ukraine has already rejected any retreat from Ukrainian land such as the Donetsk region, where its troops are dug in and which Kyiv says serves as a crucial defensive structure to prevent Russian attacks deeper into its territory. Russia would be prepared to return comparatively small tracts of Ukrainian land it has occupied in the northern Sumy and northeastern Kharkiv regions, the sources said. Russia holds pockets of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions that total around 440 square km, according to Ukraine's Deep State battlefield mapping project. Ukraine controls around 6,600 square km of Donbas , which comprises the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and is claimed by Russia. Although the Americans have not spelled this out, the sources said they knew Russia's leader was also seeking – at the very least – formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014. It was not clear if that meant recognition by the U.S. government or, for instance, all Western powers and Ukraine. Kyiv and its European allies reject formal recognition of Moscow's rule in the peninsula. They said Putin would also expect the lifting of at least some of the array of sanctions on Russia. However, they could not say if this applied to U.S. as well as European sanctions. Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil – which is subject to a range of Western sanctions – but might have to 'in two or three weeks.' Ukraine would also be barred from joining the NATO military alliance, though Putin seemed to be open to Ukraine receiving some kind of security guarantees, the sources said. However, they added that it was unclear what this meant in practice. European leaders said Trump had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine during their conversation on Saturday and also broached an idea for an 'Article 5'-style guarantee outside the NATO military alliance. NATO regards any attack launched on one of its 32 members as an attack on all under its Article 5 clause. Joining the Atlantic alliance is a strategic objective for Kyiv that is enshrined in the country's constitution. Russia would also demand official status for the Russian language inside parts of, or across, Ukraine, as well as the right of the Russian Orthodox Church to operate freely, the sources said. Ukraine's security agency accuses the Moscow-linked church of abetting Russia's war on Ukraine by spreading pro-Russian propaganda and housing spies, something denied by the church which says it has cut canonical ties with Moscow. Ukraine has passed a law banning Russia-linked religious organizations, of which it considers the church to be one. However, it has not yet started enforcing the ban. (Reuters)
MTV Lebanon
12 hours ago
- MTV Lebanon
European Leaders to Meet on Ukraine as Zelenskiy Prepares to Face Trump
The leaders of France, Germany and Britain will try to shore up Ukraine's position on Sunday as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy prepares to meet Donald Trump in Washington with the U.S. leader pressing Kyiv to accept a deal to end the war. President Trump is leaning on Ukraine to strike an agreement after meeting Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska where, according to sources, the Russian president offered to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for vast swathes elsewhere. At face value, some of Putin's demands would be hugely difficult for Ukraine to accept, setting the stage for potentially fraught talks about ending Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, which has killed or wounded more than 1 million people. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host a virtual meeting of the "coalition of the willing" - a grouping of allies of Kyiv - from 1300 GMT. European powers want to help set up a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskiy to make sure Ukraine has a seat at the table to shape its future. They also want robust security guarantees for Ukraine with U.S. involvement, and the ability to crank up pressure on Moscow if needed. "They will spell out what they consider essential in terms of security guarantees: what they can do themselves, what falls to the coalition of volunteers, and also what they expect from the United States," a European government official said. "Indeed, they expect a very robust commitment." One or more of the European leaders could also accompany Zelenskiy when he flies to Washington on Monday for his meeting with Trump. Trump said on Saturday that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not". After the Alaska summit with Putin, Trump phoned Zelenskiy and told him that the Kremlin chief had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of Moscow's main targets, a source familiar with the matter said. Zelenskiy rejected the demand, the source said. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014. Trump also said he agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies have called for. That was a reversal of his position before the summit, when he said he would not be happy unless a ceasefire was agreed on. Zelenskiy said Russia's unwillingness to pause the fighting would complicate efforts to forge a lasting peace. "Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war," he said on X. Ukraine's air force said Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with 60 drones and one ballistic missile. It said it downed or jammed 40 of the drones. Zelenskiy's last Oval Office meeting, in February, went disastrously, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance giving the Ukrainian leader a strong public dressing-down. Merz said he did not think Zelenskiy would face as difficult a time this time around, adding that Zelenskiy would talk on Sunday to European leaders who would help him prepare for the meeting. "We'll give a few good pieces of advice," he told German broadcaster n-tv. Merz told ZDF that while it was important that Europe stand united, the U.S. would for the time being continue to play the decisive role in the war. "The American president has the power both militarily and via appropriate sanctions and tariffs to ensure that Russia moves more than it currently does," he said. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been gradually advancing for months. In his statement after the Alaska summit, Putin signalled no movement in Russia's long-held demands, which also include a veto on Kyiv's desired membership in the NATO alliance. Mark Lyall Grant, Britain's national security adviser during part of Trump's first term, said the summit was a 'clear win' for Putin because Trump dropped his previous call for an immediate ceasefire. However, he added that it was positive that there appeared to be some willingness from the U.S. to be involved in offering some security guarantees for Ukraine. "That is absolutely critical because apart from the issues of land swaps, which is a very complicated issue, the most important longer-term issue is the security guarantees for what is left of Ukraine, so Putin doesn't do what he normally does, which is have a time to rearm and come back for more at a later stage," he told Reuters.
Ya Libnan
12 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Trump's Alaska surrender: What does Putin have on him?
When the U.S. president adopts the position of an adversary, allies and adversaries alike wonder who is really calling the shots. By: Vlad Green, Op-ED The world watched in disbelief as President Donald Trump stood alongside Vladimir Putin in Alaska and appeared to adopt the Russian leader's position on Ukraine. For the leader of the United States—the nation long regarded as the guardian of freedom and stability—to echo the demands of an adversary is nothing short of shameful. It has shaken not only Americans but also U.S. allies who rely on Washington's resolve. For decades, American presidents, Republican and Democrat alike, have understood that standing firm against Moscow is a matter of principle. Yet what we saw in Alaska was different. Instead of defending Ukraine's sovereignty and the values of the free world, Trump reversed himself, leaving allies to wonder whether America can still be trusted. The question now echoing from London to Warsaw to Tokyo is simple: why? The images from the summit told their own story. Putin looked calm, collected, even triumphant. Trump, by contrast, appeared hesitant and subdued. For all the bravado he displays on the campaign trail, he seemed deferential in the presence of the Russian president. For allies, this was alarming. If Trump cannot stand firm against Putin, how can he be relied upon to defend NATO in Europe or Taiwan in Asia? The stakes are not limited to Ukraine—they extend to the credibility of U.S. commitments worldwide. There must be a reason for such a reversal. Former FBI Director James Comey once hinted that Russia may possess kompromat—compromising information—that could explain Trump's pattern of deference to Putin. No definitive evidence has been made public, but the suspicion lingers. Even the appearance of blackmail is damaging. Diplomacy depends not only on strength but on perception. If allies believe the U.S. president is compromised, their trust in America erodes. If adversaries believe he can be pressured, they will exploit it. This is why so many are asking the same uncomfortable question: What does Russia have on Trump? For Ukraine, Trump's stance is nothing short of betrayal. For NATO allies, it is a shock to the system. And for U.S. partners in Asia, the fear is clear: if Trump concedes to Putin today, Xi Jinping may take note tomorrow. Beijing is watching closely. If Moscow can pressure Trump into reversing U.S. policy, why not test the same strategy in the Pacific? Already, Chinese state media has been framing the Alaska summit as proof that American resolve is faltering. This only encourages aggressors and destabilizes the international order. America's power is not measured by tanks or missiles alone. Its greatest strength lies in credibility—the belief among allies that the U.S. will honor its commitments, and the fear among adversaries that America will stand firm. When that credibility is weakened, the entire global order is placed at risk. The Alaska summit has left America's credibility hanging by a thread. Allies are hedging, adversaries are emboldened, and the balance of power is shifting before our eyes. The American people deserve answers. So do America's allies. Was Trump simply outmaneuvered by a seasoned ex-KGB officer, or is there something deeper at play? Until these questions are addressed, suspicion will continue to corrode U.S. leadership. Congress and the press must press for transparency. Silence is not an option when the credibility of the United States—and the security of the free world—are at stake. The Alaska summit was supposed to bring progress toward peace. Instead, it left the world uneasy, allies shaken, and adversaries emboldened. By appearing to side with Putin over Ukraine, Trump did more than weaken American policy—he raised doubts about whether the president of the United States acts freely or under influence. The question is no longer whispered in diplomatic corridors; it is shouted across the globe: What does Putin have on Trump? Until this question is answered, America's leadership will remain in doubt—and the world will grow more dangerous.
