Donald Trump and Vladimir Poutine in Anchorage, in Alaska, August 15, 2025
Donald Trump abandoned any requirement for a preliminary ceasefire in Ukraine on Saturday, now advocating a “peace agreement” to end the murderous conflict, a major reversal after his meeting in Alaska with Vladimir Putin, without apparent concrete results.
The American president even supports a proposal from Russia providing for it to take total control of two Ukrainian regions and that the front is frozen in two other regions that Moscow only partially controls, a official told AFP on Saturday who has learned of telephone exchanges between Donald Trump and European leaders during his flight return.
According to this source, which required anonymity, the Russian president “asks in fact that Ukraine leaves the Donbass”, a territory bringing together the regions of Donetsk and Lougansk in the east of Ukraine.
Donald Trump will receive his Ukrainian counterpart at the White House on Monday afternoon, Volodymyr Zelensky, several European capitals, for their part wanting to “maintain the pressure on Moscow”.
The abandonment by Donald Trump of the preliminary ceasefire seems to promote Vladimir Putin, who has long defended the idea of directly negotiating a global and final agreement, kyiv and his European allies seeing it on the contrary a way for him to save time in order to continue his military offensive and extend his territorial sockets.
This path is however “the best way to end the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine,” wrote the Republican President on his Truth Social network.
“A simple ceasefire agreement (…) Often does not hold,” he justified, he who had threatened Moscow with “very serious consequences” in the absence of a stop of hostilities.
“The sad reality is that Russia has no intention of putting an end to this war of soon,” said the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas.
The master of the Kremlin said on Saturday that his interview with Donald Trump in Anchorage was “very useful” to work for a conflict resolution “on a fair basis”, more than three and a half years after the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine.
– Tribune for Putin –
The anchorage summit, supposed to be crucial for the stability of Europe, allowed a spectacular return of Vladimir Putin to the diplomatic scene, without leading to the announcement of a next tripartite meeting including Mr. Zelensky, or on a break in hostilities, nor on new sanctions targeting Russia.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025 (AFP / Drew Angerer)
The meeting of more than three hours, “crowned with success” according to Donald Trump, in any case sparked a diplomatic effervescence in Europe, the first concerned but great absent in Alaska.
The leaders of the Old Continent claimed to be ready to facilitate a summit between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
The latter said he was “grateful to the invitation” to the White House, six months after being dumped very steep by Donald Trump in the Oval Office, a scene broadcast live which had plunged into the number of European countries.
“If everything works well (during this new bilateral meeting), we will then program a meeting with President Putin,” Donald Trump assured on Saturday, letting a tripartite summit consider.
He notably exchanged with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer and the general secretary of NATO, Mark Rutte.
During these telephone discussions, Donald Trump spoke of kyiv a security guarantee similar to that of NATO 5, outside the framework of the Atlantic Alliance.
Donald Trump left anchorage, in Alaska, on August 15, 2025
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, said that it would be to start defining “a collective security clause that would allow Ukraine to obtain the support of all its partners, including the United States, ready to act in the event that it is again attacked”.
MM. Macron, Starmer and Merz summoned a meeting on Sunday with the countries of the “Volunteer Coalition” allies of kyiv.
– War continues –
In Russia, the Alaska summit was rather well received. Met close to the Kremlin, Vitalo Romanov, a museum employee, believes that he aroused “the hope that this will be better, for Russia, for the people and for the people who fight” on the front.
On the other hand, the Ukrainians seemed without illusions, such as Laryssa Melny, a pharmacist from kyiv, who believes that there will be “no peace” soon.
“I think it’s a great diplomatic victory for Putin,” said Pavlo Nebroev, director of a theater in Kharkiv.
In the meantime, hostilities continue. The Russian army launched 85 drones and a missile on Ukraine overnight, said kyiv, saying that he had shot down 61.