After the recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Trump declared that their summit had been “very useful.” When asked how he would rate the meeting on a scale of one to 10, the president declared the meeting “was a 10 in the sense we got along great.” While Trump and Putin may have hit it off, the issue with such an assessment is that it failed to address the underlying reason for the meeting: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump’s unwillingness to make firm commitments at the meetings with Zelenskyy and European leaders means that Russia, at this point, has succeeded in advancing its interests to the detriment of Ukraine and the prospects for a long-term, sustainable peace.
Author: James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser University
Published at: 2025-08-18 22:06:34
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