Donald Trump appears determined to make a success out of the Friday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He and the European leaders — including Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky — held a conference call on Wednesday to discuss "red lines" for Ukraine and a ceasefire proposal that Trump will push at the summit.
Putin praised Trump for "making quite an energetic and sincere effort, in my opinion, to stop hostilities, to stop the crisis and to reach an agreement that is of interest to all those involved in this conflict." Putin made the remarks according to a readout of a meeting of his top officials to prepare for the Alaska summit.
Trump appeared to up the stakes for Putin when he warned of "very severe consequences" for Russia if Moscow failed to reach a ceasefire agreement at the summit.
Trump didn't elaborate on what "consequences" he had in mind, but previous hints include dropping the hammer on locking Russia out of world financial markets and adding further sanctions to high-ranking Putin cronies.
Meanwhile, Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss Kyiv's five red lines for ending hostilities.
Ukraine will engage in no peace talks without a prior ceasefire, Ukraine must be involved in negotiations and Ukraine will make the decision on any territorial concessions with discussions beginning from the current front lines.
Kyiv has also said it needs solid security guarantees -- with U.S. involvement -- to agree to any deal, and that more sanctions and pressure should be put on Russia if the Alaska summit is unsuccessful.
Zelenskyy and his European backers said that Trump agreed to the negotiating outline.
For the first time, Zelensky has indicated that he will be willing to cede territory to Russia, but only as long as the "starting point" for negotiations is that the current battle lines remain fixed.
Putin's peace proposal would grant Russia hundreds of additional miles of unoccupied Ukrainian territory. That proposal was never going anywhere.
The rare unanimity of opinion among Ukraine's European allies demonstrates that all parties recognize the high stakes of this summit and that many leaders believe in the possibility of some kind of breakthrough in Alaska.
France’s President Emmanel Macron, who was in the meeting, said that Trump had made it clear that any security guarantees offered to Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal with Russia wouldn’t involve NATO. Trump did accept that security guarantees would be given jointly by the U.S. and Europe, Macron said, pointing to a potentially significant change in Trump’s position on the issue.
“President Trump was very clear that the American desire was to obtain a cease-fire at this meeting in Alaska,” Macron told reporters after the meeting.
“We Europeans are doing everything in our power to set the right foundations for this meeting, for we want Donald Trump to have success in Anchorage on Friday,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference with Zelensky after the conversation with Trump.
Trump made it clear in the meeting with European leaders that "security guarantees" would not involve NATO but that any guarantees would involve both the U.S. and Europe. It's an important distinction since any guarantee involving NATO would lead automatically to the U.S. going to war if Russia violated the ceasefire, while a less binding deal with European powers would allow the U.S. to offer material and other support in the event of a Russian violation.
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The Europeans appear less anxious after assurances from Americans about the probable scope the the talks on Friday.
While Trump’s decision last week to meet Putin on American soil worried Europeans, trans-Atlantic relations have since warmed. In a flurry of calls and meetings, senior U.S. officials—including Trump, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—signaled their readiness to coordinate closely with Europe on securing a cease-fire and a “fair deal” to end the war, according to participants and briefed officials.
European diplomats said they were particularly impressed by Vance, who met with them in England on Saturday. He showed a strong interest in aligning trans-Atlantic positions ahead of the Putin talks and had a detailed understanding of the situation, participants said.
The process of achieving peace in Ukraine will be a long one. Trump has suggested that if the Alaska summit goes well, another high-level meeting could be scheduled involving both Zelensky and Putin.
“At this point, Trump really owns this. He is the one negotiating with Putin, and he wants a deal,” said Fiona Hill, who advised Trump on Russia in his first term.
Trump has raised the stakes for his own success and for Putin and the Europeans. What started as a possible prelude to a ceasefire has become the most important U.S.-Russia summit in a generation.
Failure may not be an option.
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