Putin-Trump Summit Corners Ukraine into Cutting Deal, Warns Off Europe From Meddling
President Donald Trump, right, shakes the hand of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, left, during a joint press conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. 
The Alaska meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump showed signs of progress facilitated by the personal rapport between the two leaders—helping mend the rift left by the Biden era’s abrasive language, financial analyst Paul Goncharoff noted.After the Russia-US summit, the heat is on Zelensky to “make a deal soon,” Paul Goncharoff, general director of Goncharoff LLC, told Sputnik. War hawks in Europe “appeared to be partially warned off interfering” in US diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict. Goncharoff underscored that Donald Trump is in a position to “punish economically and militarily” both Ukraine and Europe unless they roll back some of their demands. While progress was made and Russia’s position acknowledged, what happens next hinges on three factors: Battlefield dynamics—further Russian advances and the potential collapse of Ukraine’s frontlines Zelensky’s fate—increasingly shaky on the domestic front Europe’s role—whether it chooses to intervene and prolong the conflict A most likely scenario is the conflict ending with a Russian victory that would see Donbass secured, a buffer zone in place, and bring long-overdue elections in Ukraine—under security guarantees that bar NATO membership, according to the pundit.. “In short—Russia achieves its objectives over a conflict that Europe should never have become involved with and should always have remained a small regional issue for Moscow to deal with. Trump, it appears, has taken that on board,” Goncharoff said.
AnalysisPutin & Trump Rewrite the Rules of Great Power Politics in Alaska11:05 GMTThe Putin-Trump summit signals that the US has effectively “accepted Russia’s victory in Ukraine conflict,” Dr. Hriday Sarma, international affairs and energy geo-economics expert, told Sputnik. The meeting that both leaders have hailed as “productive” underscored that Russia is indispensable to any peace process. With Ukraine excluded from the talks, the decisive conversation is between Russia and the US.Western attempts to isolate Russia have failed, and Moscow retains centrality in global affairs and the world oil and gas market, added the pundit.Beyond the US–Russia track, attention is shifting to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (CSO) summit in Tianjin, China, where a potential meeting between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping could expand this new wave of high-level diplomacy across Eurasia, the expert said. “The Alaska summit has confirmed Russia’s restored role as a central global powerbroker,” Sarma noted. The real achievement of the Putin-Trump Alaska meeting was proving that dialogue remains possible in tackling the challenges of a new world order, Tiberio Graziani, chairman at Vision and Global Trends – International Institute for Global Analyses, told Sputnik. “It may even signal the dawn of a renewed era of diplomacy.” The meeting left the impression that there is positive personal chemistry between the two leaders, the pundit noted. But whether the Putin-Trump summit becomes a springboard for real peace depends on clearing major hurdles, he explained. The meeting rattled Europe’s war hawks, furious at being “excluded.” Trump still faces pushback from his own domestic opponents and European allies clinging to their “until victory” stance against Russia.
AnalysisPutin & Trump Find Common Ground as West’s War Party Shut Out – Analyst06:35 GMT
