If you happen to’re confused concerning 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 have 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 instructing at Tufts College’s Fletcher College, to assist untangle what occurred and what may occur subsequent.
It was a unexpectedly deliberate summit. Trump mentioned 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 all them is prepared but, apparently. Second, the method was flawed. It wasn’t ready properly sufficient prematurely, on the secretary of state and overseas minister degree. It wasn’t ready on the employees 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 have been form of practical indicators. They mentioned, “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 form of cheap. 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 traces, there have been a pair issues. The primary is the Russians, once more, simply weren’t prepared to do that, they usually mentioned, “No ceasefire. We wish to go straight to everlasting peace talks.”
Ukraine doesn’t need that, and neither do its European allies. Why?
Whenever you do a ceasefire, what usually occurs is you permit the fighters in possession of no matter land their navy 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 drag again to the place they have been 4 years in the past.
However if you happen to go to a everlasting peace plan, which Putin desires, you’ve received to determine that persons are going to drag again, proper? In order that’s downside primary.
Drawback quantity two is it’s clear that Putin is insisting on conserving a number of 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 actually 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, primarily based on historical past and ethnic make-up.
The issue is, the world group 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 Struggle 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 international locations, “Don’t do that. You do that, it’s going to be dangerous for you.”
So if Russia learns that it could 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 after they gave up the nuclear weapons they held, as did Europe. The U.S. has, each diplomatically and when it comes to arms, supported Ukraine throughout this battle. 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 entire different factor occurring the opposite facet 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 the perfect deal you’ll be able to with China, as a result of we’re not going to again your play.”
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A minimum of 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 will’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 will’t have it.”
President Trump had talked to all of them earlier than the summit, they usually 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 a substitute, Trump took Putin’s place of going straight to peace talks, no ceasefire.
I don’t suppose they preferred it. I feel they’re coming in to say to him, “No, we’ve got to go to ceasefire first. Then talks and, PS, taking territory and conserving 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 have 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 until you hear there’s a ceasefire, nothing’s actually occurred and the events are persevering with to struggle and kill.
What I’d search for after the Monday conferences is, does Trump persist with his weapons post-Alaska and say, “No, we’re gonna have an enormous, complete peace settlement, and land for peace is on the desk.”
Or does he form of swing again in the direction of the European standpoint and say, “I actually suppose 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 battle. He thinks it’s too chaotic. He can’t management it. No telling what is going to occur on the different finish of battle. 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 might have two events say, “Look, we nonetheless hate one another. We nonetheless have this actually necessary difficulty 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 millions 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 mentioned, properly, “We nonetheless don’t wish to offer you any land, however, yeah, these youngsters right here, you’ll be able to have them again,” it’s the form of factor you throw on the desk to indicate that you just’re not a nasty man and you’re form of critical about these talks.
Whether or not they’ll do this or not, I don’t know. It’s actually a tragic story.
