If you happen to’re confused in regards to the goals, conduct and final result of the summit assembly between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian chief Vladimir Putin held in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025, you’re most likely not alone.
As summits go, the assembly broke with many conventions of diplomacy: It was last-minute, it appeared to disregard longstanding protocol and accounts of what occurred had been conflicting within the days after the early termination of the occasion.
The Dialog U.S.’s politics editor Naomi Schalit interviewed Donald Heflin, a veteran diplomat now educating at Tufts College’s Fletcher College, to assist untangle what occurred and what may occur subsequent.
It was a rapidly deliberate summit. Trump stated they’d accomplish issues that they didn’t appear to perform. The place do issues stand now?
It didn’t shock me or any skilled diplomat that there wasn’t a concrete outcome from the summit.
First, the 2 events, Russia and Ukraine, weren’t asking to return to the peace desk. Neither one in every of them is prepared but, apparently. Second, the method was flawed. It wasn’t ready nicely sufficient upfront, on the secretary of state and international minister degree. It wasn’t ready on the workers degree.
What was a little bit of a shock was the final couple days earlier than the summit, the White Home began sending out what I assumed had been type of lifelike alerts. They stated, “Hopefully we’ll get a ceasefire after which a second set of talks a couple of weeks sooner or later, and that’ll be the true set of talks.”
Jordan Pettitt/PA Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
Now, that’s type of affordable. That might have occurred. That was not a horrible plan. The issue was it didn’t occur. And we don’t know precisely why it didn’t occur.
Studying between the strains, there have been a pair issues. The primary is the Russians, once more, simply weren’t prepared to do that, and so they stated, “No ceasefire. We wish to go straight to everlasting peace talks.”
Ukraine doesn’t need that, and neither do its European allies. Why?
Once you do a ceasefire, what usually occurs is you allow the fighters in possession of no matter land their army holds proper now. That’s simply a part of the deal. You don’t go right into a 60- or 90-day ceasefire and say everyone’s received to tug again to the place they had been 4 years in the past.
However in the event you go to a everlasting peace plan, which Putin desires, you’ve received to determine that individuals are going to tug again, proper? In order that’s drawback primary.
Drawback quantity two is it’s clear that Putin is insisting on protecting among the territory that his troops seized in 2014 and 2022. That’s only a non-starter for the Ukrainians.
Is Putin doing that as a result of that basically is his backside line demand, or did he wish to blow up these peace talks, and that was a great way to blow them up? It could possibly be both or each.
Russia has made it clear that it desires to maintain elements of Ukraine, based mostly on historical past and ethnic make-up.
The issue is, the world neighborhood has made it clear for many years and a long time and a long time, you don’t get what you need by invading the nation subsequent door.
Keep in mind in Gulf Battle I, when Saddam Hussein invaded and swallowed Kuwait and made it the nineteenth province of Iraq? The U.S. and Europe went in there and kicked him out. Then there are additionally examples the place the U.S. and Europe have advised nations, “Don’t do that. You do that, it’s going to be unhealthy for you.”
So if Russia learns that it will possibly invade Ukraine and seize territory and be allowed to maintain it, what’s to maintain them from doing it to another nation? What’s to maintain another nation from doing it?
You imply the entire world is watching.
Sure. And the opposite factor the world is watching is the U.S. gave safety ensures to Ukraine in 1994 once they gave up the nuclear weapons they held, as did Europe. The U.S. has, each diplomatically and by way of arms, supported Ukraine throughout this conflict. If the U.S. lets them down, what sort of message does that ship about how dependable a associate the U.S. is?
The U.S. has this complete different factor occurring the opposite aspect of the world the place the nation is confronting China on varied ranges. What if the U.S. sends a sign to the Taiwanese, “Hey, you higher make one of the best deal you possibly can with China, as a result of we’re not going to again your play.”
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Not less than six European leaders are coming to Washington together with Zelenskyy. What does that let you know?
They’re presenting a united entrance to Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to say, “Look, we are able to’t have this. Europe’s composed of a bunch of nations. If we get within the scenario the place one nation invades the opposite and will get to maintain the land they took, we are able to’t have it.”
President Trump had talked to all of them earlier than the summit, and so they most likely got here away with a robust impression that the U.S. was going for a ceasefire. After which, that didn’t occur.
As an alternative, Trump took Putin’s place of going straight to peace talks, no ceasefire.
I don’t assume they preferred it. I feel they’re coming in to say to him, “No, now we have to go to ceasefire first. Then talks and, PS, taking territory and protecting it’s horrible precedent. What’s to maintain Russia from simply storming into the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – subsequent? The maps of Europe that had been drawn 100 years in the past have held. If we’re going to let Russia erase a bunch of the borders on the map and incorporate elements, it may actually be chaotic.”
The place do you see issues going?
Till and except you hear there’s a ceasefire, nothing’s actually occurred and the events are persevering with to combat and kill.
What I might search for after the Monday conferences is, does Trump persist with his weapons post-Alaska and say, “No, we’re gonna have a giant, complete peace settlement, and land for peace is on the desk.”
Or does he type of swing again in direction of the European standpoint and say, “I actually assume the very first thing we received to have is a ceasefire”?
Even critics of Trump must acknowledge that he’s by no means been a warmonger. He doesn’t like conflict. He thinks it’s too chaotic. He can’t management it. No telling what is going to occur on the different finish of conflict. I feel he sincerely desires for the capturing and the killing to cease above all else.
The way in which you do that could be a ceasefire. You may have two events say, “Look, we nonetheless hate one another. We nonetheless have this actually essential challenge of who controls these territories, however we each agree it’s in our greatest curiosity to cease the combating for 60, 90 days whereas we work on this.”
If you happen to don’t hear that popping out of the White Home into the Monday conferences, this isn’t going anyplace.
There are literally thousands of Ukrainian youngsters who’ve been taken by Russia – basically kidnapped. Does that enter into any of those negotiations?
It ought to. It was a terror tactic.
This could possibly be a spot the place you may make progress. If Putin stated, nicely, “We nonetheless don’t wish to offer you any land, however, yeah, these children right here, you possibly can have them again,” it’s the type of factor you throw on the desk to point out that you simply’re not a foul man and you might be type of severe about these talks.
Whether or not they’ll try this or not, I don’t know. It’s actually a tragic story.
