American media report that Volodymyr Zelenskyy may be invited to Alaska on the day Donald Trump meets Vladimir Putin.
There is no official confirmation, and the format of any Ukrainian involvement is unclear. What is fixed, for now, is the Trump–Putin encounter in Alaska on Friday, 15 August.
Washington previously floated a three-way session with Mr Trump, Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy. Moscow did not take up the idea, and the White House is currently organising a bilateral meeting, with a trilateral still described as “open”. From Kyiv’s perspective, exclusion from the core talks would be a structural flaw, not a detail.
The pattern that concerns European and Ukrainian officials is familiar. Mr Trump sets deadlines and threatens consequences; the Kremlin sidesteps them and advances an alternative initiative; Washington entertains the alternative, and the pressure dissipates.
The President first trailed a 50-day horizon for progress, then shortened it to around a fortnight. When the deadline arrived, no new Russia-focused sanctions were announced; instead, the administration’s headline “pressure” fell on India via tariff hikes linked to its purchases of Russian crude. Beijing, for its part, has said it will continue buying Russian oil. The combined effect is to reduce costs for Moscow while talks proceed.
European leaders set out their position in a joint public statement: any diplomacy must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests; borders cannot be changed by force; and Ukraine must be part of the process. The text followed a coordination meeting at Chevening House hosted by the UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, and attended by US Vice-President JD Vance, with Ukrainians and European allies present. Officials briefed that counter-proposals were tabled and that discussions focused on a ceasefire first and credible security guarantees thereafter.
Speculation over territorial “swaps” intensified after Mr Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, held three hours of talks with Mr Putin in Moscow. Mr Trump called the meeting “highly productive”, and briefings in Washington and European capitals suggested the Kremlin outlined terms to halt offensive operations. Mr Zelenskyy rejected any deal predicated on ceding land, a stance echoed across European capitals. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has given no sign it intends to withdraw from areas it claims to have annexed.
Geography undercuts the premise of a neat bargain. Russian control in parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia forms a land corridor to occupied Crimea. That corridor has military and logistical value independent of any discussion about the Donbas. On past evidence, Moscow is unlikely to relinquish it, even if Kyiv were pressed to compromise elsewhere. Any “swap” that leaves the corridor intact risks locking in a strategic advantage for Russia rather than producing a durable settlement.
The immediate question is not whether to talk, but how. A bilateral Alaska photo-op that banks Kremlin preferences — on format, tempo and substance — while Washington delays or diffuses penalties for continued aggression, would replicate the very dynamic that has suited Moscow since the invasion: create motion without movement and use time to consolidate gains.
If the White House intends to test a ceasefire, the minimum conditions are clear in European statements: Ukraine at the table, a verifiable halt to Russian strikes, and enforceable security guarantees that do not legitimise occupation lines. Anything less will be read in Kyiv and in European capitals as process for its own sake.
Mr Zelenskyy’s participation — in person, in parallel, or not at all — will shape perceptions of legitimacy. So too will the sanctions track. If China continues purchasing Russian crude and India is the principal target of US trade pressure, the Kremlin’s war revenue remains resilient. In that scenario, a deal built on Ukrainian concession, rather than Russian withdrawal, would neither end the conflict nor alter Moscow’s calculus. It would simply be another deadline missed — and another opportunity for the Kremlin to manoeuvre.
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