It was a forgone conclusion that Trump would walk away with NOTHING from the Alaska Summit. He was a man out of his depth, a character in another act from the Trump illusionary circus that is the trademark of his failed presidency. This was a masterclass in geopolitical humiliation by a Russian president who attended a summit with the sole intent of placing himself in pole position on the international stage at the expense of a global village idiot. Putin is a master manipulator who was on top of his game, offering targeted praise to a fanboy who had rolled out the red carpet, complete with US military personnel on their knees, before he skipped down the steps from his plane. This, as the world had just witnessed a tired-looking Trump lumber down the steps of Air Force One, unable to walk in a straight line to his TV marker point to welcome his hero.
From the moment Trump allowed the media to picture him applauding the arrival of an indicted war criminal onto US soil, the narrative belonged to Putin, and it went downhill from there as a man whose army had executed Ukrainian civilians, bombed schools and hospitals, tortured and executed Ukrainian prisoners of war and abducted thousands of Ukrainian children was invited to join the President of the United States in the beast. He sat beside the Commander-in-Chief of the US military. The same US military on which Putin had placed bounties on their heads.
Just for context, in January 2025, Newsweek reported on an 18-month investigation by an independent Russian news outlet and Der Spiegel in Germany that, as reported by the New York Times back in 2020:
Russia reportedly paid fighters linked to the Taliban $200,000 for every Western coalition soldier they killed in Afghanistan.
[Shedding further] light on the alleged collaboration between Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, and the Taliban. American soldiers, as well as troops from coalition and Afghan military forces, were also targeted, the investigation said.
Despite this egregious act, Putin was allowed to sit beside the President of the United States, grinning like a Cheshire cat, as the world’s press snapped pictures that are now being shared around the world.
Trump was a man entirely out of his depth, schooled by Putin, who was allowed the opening statement at a farcical ‘press conference’ following their meeting. You can read the transcripts of both statements here. There were no questions, but the facial expressions of Putin certainly provided entertainment for the ad-lib questions hurled at him by the press, despite being ushered out of the room. They certainly fueled the social media meme army.
The bottom line is that Putin conceded nothing; he simply repeated the same old rhetoric. The key takeaway for me was :
We see the strive of the administration and President Trump personally to help facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, and his strive to get to the crux of the matter, to understand this history, is precious. As I've said, the situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, we've always considered the Ukrainian nation, and I've said it multiple times, a brotherly nation. How strange it may sound in these conditions. We have the same roots, and everything that's happening is a tragedy for us, and terrible wound. Therefore, the country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it.
Without saying it out loud, he is stating that Ukraine belongs to Russia. This is a man who has no intention of giving up territory. The least he will accept is to keep all the territory Russia has stolen and force the demilitarisation of Ukraine and the withdrawal of support from the US, NATO and Europe. He wants to keep the door open to returning to Ukraine later to annexe the rest. These are his demands, and they have remained unchanged since Trump came to office. Of course, Putin was careful to stroke Trump’s ego by stating:
Today, when President Trump is saying that if he was the president back then, there would be no war, and I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so. I can confirm that.
It bears repeating that Trump has provided no support to Ukraine beyond aid packages already appropriated on a bipartisan basis. This administration has time and time again made empty threats to punish Putin for deliberately ignoring every effort to secure a ceasefire despite Ukraine’s agreement. Trump and Rubio have repeatedly attempted to bully Ukraine into conceding land and holding elections to try to get rid of Zelenskyy; they even went so far as to send US representatives to meet with Ukrainian opposition leaders to try to force elections. Indeed, the day before, Trump had attacked Zelenskyy for having the audacity to say there could be no discussion on territorial concessions without constitutional approval. Trump’s response:
“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying I have to get constitutional approval…. I mean, he’s got constitutional approval to go to war and kill everybody, but he needs constitutional approval to do a land swap”
That is precisely how it works, because he’s the President of Ukraine, not Trump’s lapdog, as it is assumed. Russia invaded Ukraine; it’s called self-defence, or does that only apply to Trump’s buddy Netanyahu?
Repeatedly, Republican lawmakers, as well as the White House Press Office, have amplified Kremlin talking points as military aid has been deliberately withheld, along with battlefield intelligence. Ukraine has found itself not just fighting Russia, but fighting an administration that once again was holding a meeting with an indicted war criminal to carve up his country, without his presence, or that of his coalition partners. Partners who, might I add, are now totally funding Ukraine’s defence, as US military contractors continue to profit from the war. It is nothing short of disgraceful, and Europe needs to take decisive action and get to grips with the situation.
Trump could not give a damn about the Ukrainian civilians and soldiers losing their lives every day; arms sales via NATO are all gravy to Trump. He has a minerals and energy deal already in place that he’s extorted from the victims of this Russian aggression. The only thing Trump wants from this now is the Nobel Peace Prize; that is his sole objective. He wants it so bad that when he called Norway's finance minister last month to discuss tariffs, he also told him he wanted the Nobel Peace Prize. The man is a thug and a bully, void of any sense of moral decency.
Trump’s remarks after the meeting speak volumes:
Thank you very much, Mr. President, that was very profound, and I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven't quite gotten there, but we've made some headway. So there's no deal until there's a deal.
There was absolutely NOTHING profound about it. Putin’s position was the same as the day Trump took office. There’s no deal because Putin has no intention of arriving at one until Ukraine capitulates and Europe steps away. He went on:
They're [Ukraine] going to have to agree with what Marco and Steve and some of the great people from the Trump administration who've come here, Scott and John Ratcliffe.
The arrogant assumption again that the victim of this war will have to do as they are told by a US President who has no interest in their fate other than the commercial opportunities it presents for him. If you want my opinion, Trump expected to convince Putin to give up some of his gains in return for the US lifting sanctions and re-establishing economic ties with Russia. That’s why Bessent was on the trip, as were Russian business leaders.
Oh and of course there was their shared victimhood too, Trump had to stick that in too:
… we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax, but what was done was very criminal….
He later added in his infomercial with fanboy Hannity that Putin had said to him:
'Your election was rigged because you have mail in voting.' He said, 'mail in voting, every election -- no country has mail in voting. It's impossible to have mail in voting and have honest elections.' And he said that to me because we talked about 2020. He said, 'you won that election by so much.'
He can’t help himself. He still misguidedly believes he can impose a settlement on Ukraine and the coalition now supporting them. What confuses me is why anyone in Ukraine and Europe cares. The US is now only involved in this war on a commercial basis. It does not commit to the security of either Ukraine or Europe. The worst thing the US could do right now is refuse to sell arms to NATO for Ukraine and sell them instead to Russia, which is not equipped to use them in any event.
The reality is that Russia does not have either air or sea superiority; it is relying on North Korea, Iran and China to keep its war machine on track. It’s operating with old military hardware, unable to commit new hardware for fear of it being destroyed by Ukrainian drones that have decimated the Russian army. Are Russia making gains? Yes, they are due to the sheer force of numbers they are having to commit to the front lines. They have only been able to make these gains because Trump has refused to provide the tools for the Ukrainian army to get the job done.
People need to understand that the cost of supporting Ukraine throughout its illegal occupation by Russia is peanuts in relation to defence spending and the GDPs of supporting nations. The Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) has followed the cost of the war in detail. Timothy Ash wrote a piece on 17th September 2024 with the headline:
It’s (Still) Costing Peanuts for the US to Defeat Russia
He notes:
Two years later, the arguments for US and European support remain unarguable. It’s just a shame that we have failed to deliver for Ukraine over the intervening period, leaving the country open to the depredations of Russia’s amoral rulers. Hundreds of thousands are now dead and wounded.
For those seeking a deeper understanding of the conflict's cost analysis, visit The Kiel Institute website for superb insights into all aspects of Ukraine's defence.
The report continues:
According to its numbers, from the end of January 2022 to the end of June 2024, the West had provided €185.1bn ($205bn) in total support to Ukraine. To put this into perspective, on an annualized basis, this is less than one-fifth of one percentage point of the West’s combined GDP of around $60 trillion.
The combined cost has, of course, grown since, but not by any significant measure to alter the cost percentage of the combined GDP. It’s easy to listen to Kremlin talking points, given they are so often repeated by the White House Press Room, Republican lawmakers and right-wing talking heads that dominate the social media space. However, the reality is far from the propaganda narrative.
The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) have carried out detailed analyses on the plight of the Russian Army. In a brief by Seth G. Jones and Riley McCabe published on 3rd June 2025, they note:
Russian military forces have failed to effectively advance along multiple axes in Ukraine, seized limited territory, lost substantial quantities of equipment relative to Ukraine, and suffered remarkably high rates of fatalities and casualties since January 2024, according to new CSIS data. While some policymakers and experts argue that Russia holds “all the cards” in the Ukraine war, the data suggests that the Russian military has performed relatively poorly on the battlefield.
For context and in summary:
First, Russian forces have advanced an average of only 50 meters per day in such areas as Kharkiv, slower than during the Somme offensive in World War I….
Second, Russia’s seizure of approximately 5,000 square kilometers of territory in Ukraine since January 2024 has been paltry—amounting to less than 1 percent of Ukrainian territory—and has occurred mainly in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv Oblasts……
Third, Russia has lost substantial quantities of equipment across the land, air, and sea domains, highlighting the sharp matériel toll of its attrition campaign…..
Fourth, Russian fatalities and casualties have been extraordinary. Russia will likely hit the 1 million casualty mark in the summer of 2025—a stunning and grisly milestone. Overall, a high of 250,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine, with over 950,000 total Russian casualties, a sign of Putin’s blatant disregard for his soldiers. To put these numbers into historical perspective, Russia has suffered roughly five times as many fatalities in Ukraine as in all Russian and Soviet wars combined between the end of World War II and the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. In addition, Russian fatalities in Ukraine (in just over three years) are 15 times larger than the Soviet Union’s decade-long war in Afghanistan and 10 times larger than Russia’s 13 years of war in Chechnya.
I’ve included this context for very good reason, but I would highly advise you to read the full brief. The critical point here is that this catastrophic degradation of Russian military capability has been delivered by an army that the West said would be defeated inside a week. The bravery, innovation, and resilience in the face of the current US administration's complicity with Putin are nothing short of remarkable and will go down as a landmark in military history. What’s more, they have achieved this without a single NATO boot on the ground in Ukraine. It is the very definition of bravery in the face of overwhelming odds and adversity. Military historians and strategists will use it as an example for future armies to aspire to.
For everything the Ukrainian people have endured, the President of the United States has rewarded them by aligning with their invader, blaming Ukraine for starting the war and extorting them for their energy and rare mineral resources. It is an unconscionable act of the betrayal of an ally whose troops fell on the battlefields of Iraq alongside US soldiers in support of the US war on terror, which was a fool’s errand instigated by another Republican administration hellbent on feeding the monster that is the US Military Industrial Complex.
The bottom line is that Trump has betrayed Ukraine; it’s really as simple as that. The sooner Europe and the coalition of the willing come to terms with that, the closer we will be to resolving this conflict. Europe needs to stop deluding itself that Trump cares about either them or Ukraine. The sooner they do that, the sooner progress can be made. The key consideration is how to replace the previous support provided by the US to Ukraine.
The Kiel Institute produced a paper called; Ukraine Aid: How Europe Can Replace US Support. It’s beyond vital that Europe, NATO and other coalition allies come together to finance the war and, if required, commit military resources to this fight to protect Ukraine and European security. It’s time to demonstrate to the US that this can be done without them. The danger they face, though, from cutting out the US and taking the spotlight off Trump, is that he may refuse to sell military hardware to NATO, and they must recognise that this is a real possibility. He might also threaten to withdraw from NATO, too, because he will not want to be made to look irrelevant.
There are some interesting dynamics involved here that may prove challenging, but if the bully is allowed to take your lunch money today, he will likely return tomorrow for more. There is also the ever-present threat of tariff impositions, which I’m sure he will not hesitate to threaten to use. However, I believe it’s time to say enough is enough, do your worst, and we will survive. I’m afraid it’s time to tear off the band-aid and take control of the situation, or this will drag on for years, costing thousands more civilian lives.
Putin is an indicted war criminal being aided and abetted by a NATO ally. He cannot be trusted to act in the best interests of either Ukraine, NATO or Europe, and this must be addressed without delay. We also have no idea if Putin is transferring funds to Trump via his crypto scam, and we never will. Ukraine’s partners must make decisions based on the assumption that he is a Russian asset and, as such, compromised. As for the Nobel Peace Prize, it would be spitting on the graves of the Ukrainian civilians and soldiers who have given their lives in defence of their nation.
There is a special place in hell reserved for Trump and his mercenary, greedy actions. The world knows who he is, and it will take the US a long, long time to recover its reputation on the international stage after how they have treated Ukraine.
All yesterday’s press conference events did was to further confirm the weakness and lack of morals of the current commander-in-chief. It was a disgraceful display to witness Putin in the beast and welcomed to American soil with such fanfare. A man who invaded a country and has caused thousands of people to be killed and basically destroyed most of that country and traumatized its people. Once again we have witnessed why it matters who sits in the chair in the oval office. Your commentary of the events which occurred yesterday is spot on.
It is so gratifying to hear from someone who has such a clear understanding of this situation. I pray that the rest of the world gets enlightened and will stand with Ukraine against
Putin and, sadly, Trump. If our Congreve would get a back bone and continue to provide the arms needed, Ukraine might just win!