The relative silence in the hours following the summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Friday, August 15, in Anchorage, Alaska, contrasted with the usual media eagerness of the Republican administration. Aside from an interview given by the US president to Fox News – in which the substance of the discussions was not addressed – it took 48 hours before key officials began, on Sunday, August 17, to share their version of the ongoing negotiations. European diplomats had already leaked many of the details.

With just hours to go before the meeting between the US president, Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders, the US administration faced an urgent need to counter the narrative that took hold over the weekend: that Trump had been completely swayed by Putin.

The US president himself fueled this scenario through several messages posted on his Truth Social platform. In the first, sent on his return to Washington early Saturday morning, he stated that he was now seeking "a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up." This is precisely the position of Putin, who refuses to halt fighting prior to talks and continues to order offensives on Ukraine.

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