The Alaska summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, after Volodymyr Zelensky was excluded, ended in a resounding failure. Not only did the two leaders fail to reach any agreement on the war in Ukraine, but the US president left practically empty-handed from a meeting that only served to end the international isolation of the leader who ordered the invasion of Ukraine three years ago. Although the White House had been trying to lower expectations in recent days, the truth is that the worst fears came true, given the realization of the fiasco of an appeasement diplomacy that becomes sterile when it comes to placating the expansionist voracity of an abject autocracy that threatens the humanist and liberal values on which Western democracies are based.
Trump came to power promising to quickly end a conflict that threatens European security, but so far he has not even achieved a ceasefire, a goal he appears to have abandoned. And this in exchange for rehabilitating Putin as if he were an ordinary diplomatic actor and not a criminal subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes committed on Ukrainian soil. The Russian president, warmly received by the Republican leader, spoke of progress after his meeting with Trump while praising the White House for not hardening its stance toward Moscow despite the lack of results in Alaska. The thaw between Washington and Moscow could be considered an affront to the unity of the allies if Trump now relies on the European powers persuading the Ukrainian president to compromise with the dissolution of his country's territorial unity, an unacceptable outcome given the cost in human lives of the war effort.
Zelensky, who will meet with Trump tomorrow, demands a trilateral format to negotiate an immediate end to the war. It is the same demand reiterated yesterday by European leaders, riding high on the hegemony of Germany and France. The EU leaders agreed on their position—again with Pedro Sánchez excluded—around two axioms: that kyiv has the final say on its territories and that Moscow cannot veto its entry into the EU and NATO. One of Putin's demands is that kyiv hand over the rest of the Donetsk region not yet occupied by NATO troops. In practice, this request would mean the surrender of Ukraine, which has turned the illegally occupied territories into a symbol of resistance to the Kremlin.
The US president has an obligation to use all his powers and geopolitical influence to stop a war that is about defending liberal democracy against the brutality of autocracies. What is unacceptable is doing so by renouncing a just peace, which requires guaranteeing Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.
