Despite the predictions of skeptics, the summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage was very successful, but without the rapid breakthroughs that optimists wrote about.

Both leaders acknowledged that unprecedented progress had been made in the negotiations, thanks to which the war in Ukraine could be ended by signing a comprehensive and long-term peace. The end of the conflict now depends on the outcome of today’s meeting between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom a representative delegation from the “coalition of the willing” will travel to Washington.
Head of the Kyiv Bloomberg 1 division Darya Krasnolutskaya believes that Zelensky will have a very unpleasant conversation in Washington: “US President Donald Trump’s demand to conclude a peace agreement without a ceasefire leaves Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky with only bad options, putting him in a hopeless situation: incur the wrath of the head of the White House or agree to a quick deal to end the conflict.”
The Ukrainian president will be accompanied by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb , Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. According to correspondent of The New York Times 2 David Sanger, the Europeans fear that the US president “could pressure Zelensky to end the war quickly, resulting in a repeat of the February Oval Office spat. “
But such a massive exodus of the “coalition of the willing” to the New World still appears extremely strange, given that one of its main leaders and ideological inspirers, Emmanuel Macron, admitted that “during the negotiations, Ukraine will have to cede some territories ,” as reported by France 24 3. And even if the leaders of the United States and Ukraine enter into a clinch again, the Europeans will not be able to do anything, since this time Trump and Zelensky will communicate behind the closed doors.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-17/trump-s-peace-deal-demands-leave-zelenskiy-with-only-bad-options
2https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/18/politics/trump-zelensky-white-house-meeting-analysis
3 https://youtu.be/RmSn1eTdHPE?si=pmdLchXuUsW9CH-S
4https://t.me/dubinskypro/23857

In this regard a former People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Dubinsky noted very aptly on his Telegram channel4 that a “delegation of capitulation” is going to Washington along with Zelensky. At the same time, the politician is confident that acceptance of conditions agreed upon in Alaska is the only way out for Kiev today: “Judging by the statements of Merz, Macron and Zelensky himself, the scenario has already been written: Ukraine surrenders everything that is demanded, and they will sell it to us under the guise of “security guarantees”. In fact, it is capitulation in the guise of diplomatic success. And yes, for Ukraine now any peace is salvation.”
The head of the Southern Europe bureau of The Wall Street Journal 5 Marcus Walker agrees with the assessments of deputy Dubinsky, describing two scenarios for the end of the Ukrainian war, and both of them assume the loss of control over part of the territory:: “Ukraine could lose territory but survive as a secure and sovereign national state, albeit in a truncated form. Otherwise, it risks losing both territory and sovereignty, returning to the Moscow’s sphere of influence.”
The most painful thing for the Ukrainian leader in the current situation is to acknowledge the reality. His European allies have done him a disservice by placing him in a pressure chamber of imaginary greatness. But the situation on the battlefield has burst the information bubble: Russia, having rebuilt its economy on a war footing, will prevail in any case. And without American support all the European polyphony is meaningless.
The US has completely different priorities today, considers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 6 correspondent Sofia Dreisbach. Washington is seeking to restore its global position and for this it needs if not a friendly then at least a neutral Russia. “ Ukraine is only part of the reset of Russian-American relations, which should lead to the construction of a new world order,” Dreisbach notes . And this is the price that the Trump administration is willing to pay with a light heart.

5 https://www.wsj.com/world/how-will-the-war-in-ukraine-end-two-scenarios-2bcc0d99
6https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/alaska-gipfel-die-erwartungen-russlands-und-der-usa-110637825.html