To fill in: Putin and Trump have outlined steps towards peace in Ukraine

In Anchorage, Moscow and Washington, despite their differences, found common ground and expressed hope for a rapprochement of positions. A new tone to the negotiations was given by the statement of Donald Trump, who proposed concluding not a temporary truce, but a full-fledged peace agreement to end the Ukrainian conflict. Now everything depends on Kiev's reaction and the EU's willingness to participate in the dialogue. The head of the White House has already discussed the results of the Alaska meeting with Zelensky and EU leaders. Experts believe that the conflict will require the participation of European countries. Earlier, Vladimir Putin urged them not to sabotage the dialogue, and his American counterpart said that now the ball is on the side of Kiev and Brussels.

What Putin and Trump could have agreed on behind the scenes

Moscow and Washington have managed to identify some progress in the discussion of the Ukrainian settlement. At the same time, the negotiations clearly demonstrated that the differences in approaches between the Kremlin and the White House remain, and so far they are significant. Nevertheless, there is still hope for a gradual rapprochement of positions, which in the future may open the way to a more comprehensive political solution to the protracted crisis in Ukraine.

The Alaska summit was initially seen as an attempt to restart dialogue between Russia and the United States precisely against the background of the Ukrainian conflict. The negotiations that took place on the night of August 16, even before they began, probably due to the overly dense agenda, transformed from a planned personal conversation between the leaders into a three-on-three format. Thus, together with Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov participated in the meeting, and with Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special representative of the US President Steve Witkoff, who had previously visited the Russian capital more than once.

As a result of this meeting, the parties did declare progress, although any agreements are still far away. "An agreement has been reached on many points, but there are one or two rather significant issues. I think they can be solved. Now it's up to President Zelensky to bring the process to an end," Trump said in an interview with Fox News after the talks.

Vladimir Putin, in turn, stressed that Moscow expects that "Kiev and European capitals will take all this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles" to the emerging progress in the settlement. The Russian leader expressed the hope that the agreements reached would become a kind of starting point for further steps, including finding ways out of the Ukrainian crisis.

Both presidents did not answer questions from journalists — perhaps the parties decided to leave the agreements reached behind the scenes. According to The Economist, the negotiators discussed a preliminary agreement on the cessation of hostilities in the airspace. "We believe that the sky will give a signal about the preliminary results of these negotiations. Next week will be interesting," Oliver Carroll, a journalist, quotes one of the sources. A TASS source said that Russia and the United States were able to resolve many issues at the Alaska summit, but they would not "trumpet them ahead of time."

— The press conference was rather vague. But Trump and Putin left the impression that there is progress," American political analyst Jeremy Kuzmarov said in a conversation with Izvestia.

In his opinion, Ukraine is not ready to make territorial concessions now, although pressure may well be exerted on Kiev in the form of a threat to reduce American aid.

At least after the press conference, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump continued to talk in a rather friendly atmosphere, after which they warmly said goodbye and shook hands. Richard Bensel, a professor at Cornell University in New York, believes that the Alaska summit can be considered a victory for Vladimir Putin.

"The Russian president has received confirmation of his status as a world leader," he told Izvestia.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump decided to postpone the imposition of sanctions against Russia - according to him, he does not see the need for this now. And given the parties' desire to establish economic cooperation, including in the Arctic, as Vladimir Putin mentioned in Anchorage, we may even talk about their partial lifting of restrictions.

Moreover, the European Union can also ease restrictions against Russia if it agrees to a cease-fire in Ukraine. The British Daily Telegraph writes about this, citing sources. According to her, the condition for this should be Moscow's willingness to meet halfway within a "certain time."

However, for now, despite the impressive speed with which the summit was organized, we should not expect rapid progress.

— We have heard complimentary statements about the readiness for a settlement, and this is encouraging. But there were no practical aspects, such as specific parameters for a truce or an exchange of detainees. Without them, it is difficult to understand how realistic these agreements are," says Denis Denisov, a Russian political analyst.

Nevertheless, the Anchorage summit was a step towards a possible trilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky. The only question is on what terms it will take place and whether the Ukrainian leader is ready to join the deal under discussion.

The reaction of Europe and Ukraine

Immediately after the talks in Alaska, Donald Trump called Zelensky and European leaders. The conversation, according to the White House, lasted more than an hour and a half and concerned possible scenarios for further settlement.

On the other end of the line were the heads of the European Commission and the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as well as the leaders of France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Italy and Finland. Rubio and Witkoff, the direct participants of the Alaska meeting, also joined the conversation.

Later, the head of the White House described the negotiation day as "excellent and very successful." According to him, during personal conversations with Putin, as well as telephone contacts with Zelensky and European leaders, all sides agreed that the best way to end the armed conflict is "to go to a peace agreement, and not be limited to a cease—fire agreement, which is often not respected." It is important to note that earlier Trump insisted on a truce as a necessary condition for further dialogue on a settlement. However, he approached the Alaska summit with the same guidelines.

According to CNN, citing a source, in a conversation with European leaders, Trump also raised the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of the conclusion of the peace agreement he mentioned. It is claimed that they will be implemented according to the type of Article 5 of the NATO Charter, but the alliance itself will not participate in them.

Meanwhile, it became known that the Ukrainian president will meet with Donald Trump on August 18. If the meeting is successful, the next step could be a trilateral summit with Vladimir Putin, the American president said. However, Trump's conversations with the Ukrainian guest do not always go smoothly — the echoes of the February scandal in the Oval Office still cast a shadow on Zelensky's political ambitions.

According to the latter, Donald Trump informed him about his meeting with Vladimir Putin and the main topics of discussion. Zelensky noted that he supports the US president's proposal to hold a trilateral meeting. He confirmed his participation in the upcoming talks at the White House.

At the same time, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that the issue of a trilateral meeting had not been raised during the talks between Putin and Trump. However, the American leader, on the contrary, admitted that preparations for it had already begun. "I think that the three of us will be able to get together and consolidate the progress made," Trump said, without specifying possible dates.

Interestingly, Vladimir Putin had previously talked about creating "certain conditions" for a meeting with Zelensky to take place.

In any case, it will not be possible to completely ignore the European and Ukrainian representatives in the settlement process, says Artem Sokolov, a senior researcher at the MGIMO Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

— The European Union and its member states remain allies of the United States within the framework of NATO and many other formats. It would be a strong simplification to consider these relations within the collective West as a one-sided process. The same applies to Ukraine, which in recent years has learned to manipulate politicians both in European capitals and in Washington," the expert explained to Izvestia.

In his opinion, if the first round of Russian-American negotiations took place without obvious influence from the EU and Kiev, then the development of the agreements reached will require "one way or another" the inclusion of these parties.

"The question is to what extent Washington and Moscow will be able to minimize the destructive nature of the influence of Ukraine and the EU and to what extent, in principle, it is possible to involve them in this negotiation track so that it is constructive," emphasized Artyom Sokolov.

Following the talks between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, the European Union declared its readiness to work together with Trump and Zelensky on holding a trilateral summit with the support of Europe. The EU leaders' statement stresses that Ukraine must receive reliable security guarantees. At the same time, Brussels believes that there should be no restrictions on the Ukrainian armed Forces and their cooperation with third countries, and Russia cannot veto Ukraine's path to membership in the European Union and NATO.

Denis Denisov believes that much depends on whether Trump succeeds in persuading Zelensky to compromise. "If Ukraine agrees to adjust its position, a trilateral meeting can take place fairly quickly. But given Kiev's current rhetoric, it cannot be ruled out that it will turn into a scandal, after which Kiev will refuse to fulfill its obligations," the expert explained.

At the same time, Europe found itself in a difficult situation. Her policy of continuing the conflict and the lack of her own initiatives to resolve it actually took Brussels beyond the framework of key negotiations.

— This is a serious challenge for the Europeans: they must prove their relevance in the negotiation process. At this stage, Putin and Trump have no desire to actively involve them. But when it comes to the future of the European security architecture, we cannot do without the EU," Denis Denisov concluded.

Thus, the Anchorage summit was an important signal that Moscow and Washington are ready for dialogue on ending the conflict in Ukraine. Although practical solutions are still far away.