How Vladimir Putin’s history rant in Alaska nudged Donald Trump closer to Ukraine: Fraught summit in Anchorage marked a nadir that reshaped how the presidents approach each other
https://www.ft.com/content/7af3b49e-c4da-405b-8199-3e12957b78c2
by rulepanic
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How Vladimir Putin’s history rant in Alaska nudged Donald Trump closer to Ukraine
Christopher Miller, Henry Foy, Max Seddon, Amy Mackinnon
10–12 minutes
Donald Trump arrived in Alaska expecting to strike a deal with Vladimir Putin to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead, the Russian president rejected his proposal outright — and launched into a lengthy historical lecture.
The two leaders spoke again on Thursday and agreed to meet in Budapest without setting a date — but the fraught Anchorage summit, which Trump nearly walked out of, had already reshaped the terms of their relationship.
Putin was greeted in Alaska with a handshake and a broad Trump grin, and momentum seemed on his side. But once behind closed doors, the warmth quickly faded, according to multiple people briefed on the talks.
With just a handful of advisers present, Putin rejected the US offer of sanctions relief for a ceasefire, insisting the war would end only if Ukraine capitulated and ceded more territory in the Donbas.
The Russian president then delivered a rambling historical discursion spanning medieval princes such as Rurik of Novgorod and Yaroslav the Wise, along with the 17th century Cossack chieftain Bohdan Khmelnytsky — figures he often cites to support his claim Ukraine and Russia are one nation.
Taken aback, Trump raised his voice several times and at one point threatened to walk out, the people said. He ultimately cut the meeting short and cancelled a planned lunch where broader delegations were due to discuss economic ties and co-operation.
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When Trump hailed a “great and successful day in Alaska”, it prompted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders to dash to the White House to dissuade him from selling Ukraine down the river. Yet the summit proved a different kind of turning point: a nadir in the Trump-Putin relationship that set off a US shift to the benefit of Ukraine.
As Zelenskyy prepares to see Trump on Friday, he will enter the White House hopeful of economic deals and additional support from a president who has previously scolded him for “gambling with world war three”.
With Trump increasingly exasperated with Putin, his administration has allowed European allies to purchase arms from US stockpiles for Ukraine, helped guide strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, and has threatened Putin with selling Kyiv long-range missiles able to hit Moscow.
Washington has also imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports in response to its continued purchases of Russian oil, while urging others to act.
The shift is incomplete — Washington has yet to act on its threats to sanction Russia’s energy exports — perhaps to keep space for Trump as a potential peace broker. But the thrust of policy has gone in one direction: compelling Putin to return to the negotiating table over Ukraine.
The account of the Alaska summit is based on interviews with eight western and Ukrainian officials and diplomats briefed on the meeting, as well as people in Moscow close to back-channel efforts to end the war.
“Trump was really thinking that he can get a peace deal with Putin . . . the offer that was on the table for Putin [in Alaska] was very good,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, former prime minister of Ukraine, told the Financial Times after discussions this month with senior US officials. “But Putin over-reached.”
There are some signs Putin may be aware the Alaska talks could have gone better. “It’s not funny,” he said, when asked earlier this month if he had explained the history of Ukraine to Trump.
“I did talk to my other American interlocutors [about it]. I won’t hide it: we just really talked about different options for a settlement, quite frankly and honestly. I don’t know what’ll come of it. But we’re ready to continue that discussion.”
Vladimir Putin welcomes Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow on August 6 2025
Putin with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow in August. US officials said the Russian president appeared more flexible on territorial issues than he had in previous meetings with Witkoff © Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Reuters
A White House official described the summit as “productive” and dismissed the idea that it went poorly. The administration views any opportunity to better understand the Russian position as “helpful”, the official said.
Trump’s efforts to broker a deal had stalled in the spring, when senior Russian officials said Putin was not interested in discussing a peace plan the US had drawn up with Ukrainian and European input. Another meeting set for May was scrapped.
But in early August, US special envoy Steve Witkoff flew to Moscow to try to resuscitate peace talks. After Witkoff spent three hours in the Kremlin with Putin, their fifth meeting of the year, US officials told allies a deal was suddenly possible.
Putin, they said, appeared more flexible on territorial issues than he had in previous meetings with Witkoff. They also suspected the Russian president was worried about US sanctions on Indian imports of Russian oil. They decided Putin and Trump should meet.
In Alaska, Trump said the US was willing to recognise Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and push Ukraine to pull back from some frontline positions in the Donbas region in the east of the country if Russia stopped the fighting, according to two people familiar with the matter.
But the putative deal was based on misconceptions. Russia’s territorial “concessions”, as Witkoff presented them, amounted to accepting a freeze on the frontline in some areas it has been unable to seize by force — while still demanding Ukraine surrender the entire Donbas.
“He misunderstood everything Putin said about what the summit was going to be about,” a person briefed on the talks said.
The White House official disputed the suggestion that Witkoff had misconstrued the Russian position.
The Russian leader insisted that no deal would be possible if it did not address what he called the “root causes” of the conflict, his shorthand for regime change in Kyiv, an end to Nato expansion and western arms supplies for Ukraine. For Putin, Trump’s offer was a non-starter. He wanted Ukraine’s capitulation.
Alarmed by talk of a deal over Zelenskyy’s head and unaware of Putin’s Alaskan intransigence, European allies feared Trump had swung decisively into Russia’s camp.
Trump backed away from threats to impose new sanctions on Moscow and appeared to endorse Putin’s demands for a permanent settlement, instead of the immediate ceasefire he had promised. Zelenskyy and several European leaders rushed to the White House to get Trump back onside.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, seated from background left, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and President Donald Trump listen during a meeting in the East Room of the White House on August 18 2025 in Washington
From left: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump at the White House on August 18. The US president offered to broker a meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy © Alex Brandon/AP
To their relief, Trump said he would agree to back broad security guarantees for Ukraine if the war ended, suggested the US could support European efforts to strengthen Kyiv’s defences, and offered to broker a meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy.
Putin: “Ah yes, I know just thing to get Trump on my side! A long drawn out history lesson!”
Honestly , considering how this news peddled today after announcement of meeting of shitbags 2.0 in Budapest..
I very much doubt this nudged trump away from putin`s bedside
Didn’t Putin bore Tucker Carlson with the same nonsense.
Hooray! For once, Trump’s resistance to education (or at least something posing as it) worked in humanity’s favour!?
I can’t tell if Putin is actually this bad at managing Trump or if Putin feels so boxed in politically that he needs to have an extremely favorable settlement to avoid looking weak and inviting challengers.
This article just seems to confirm that Trump really was stupid enough to enter that meeting with Putin believing he could wrangle a ceasefire or peace deal just by talking.
Telling you – Trump will not help Ukraine if Putin tells him so. Just look at the Tomahawk missile situation. Look at the perpetually extended threats of sanctions. Look at everything about Trump and what he has done and said.
Trump isn’t closer to Ukraine
So why is he meeting with Putin again in Budapest? Why can’t he just approve the tomahawk shipments?
Outdated, unfortunately.
He’s once again talking about “MAKING A DEAL”, to the point Zelenskyy had to stop talking about hitting or even sanctioning russia at all
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