Trump and Putin have announced their historic peace summit for next week, and in Alaska of all fatefully symbolic places. Is the conflict finally approaching its concluding arc?
Not so fast.
Despite the repetitive banality of the negotiations and ceasefires carousel, we must put events through the wringer of logic to address the many misconceptions currently buzzing about this flyblown topic.
First, is the biggest elephant in the room: no one seems to know what territories Trump is allegedly peddling on Ukraine’s behalf. Interlocutors and their MSM stenographers have subtly leveraged the deliberately vague term “Donbass” or “eastern Ukraine”, feigning naivete as usual to ignore Russia’s well-known demands for Kherson and Zaporozhye. Amazing how the journalistic attribute of ‘attention to detail’ is so easily jettisoned by establishment organs when the narrative requires it.
An example, the leading piece from WSJ which broke this story states the following:
In a series of calls this week, Europeans sought to get clarity on a key aspect of the proposal—what would happen in the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, where Russian troops also control some territory. Officials who were briefed by the Trump administration on calls Wednesday and Thursday came away with conflicting impressions about whether Putin intended to freeze the current front lines or eventually pull out of those regions entirely.
A U.S. official said Putin called for pausing the war at current lines in both regions. Russia would then negotiate land swaps with Ukraine, aiming for full Moscow control of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. It couldn’t be determined which territory Ukraine would receive in return.
But in the same day, another WSJ piece contradictorily wrote:
So, one report says Putin aims to negotiate a takeover of all Kherson and Zaporozhye, while the other that Putin is willing to withdraw from both in exchange for Donetsk and Lugansk.
As can be seen, no one knows what the proposal actually is, which further suggests Witkoff himself is clueless.
According to BILD information, even before the peace summit on August 15, the Kremlin did not deviate from its maximum demand of wanting to completely control the five Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, and Crimea before the guns fall silent. The Russian side only brought “sectoral ceasefires” into play – such as a mutual renunciation of attacks on energy facilities or larger cities behind the front lines.
They serve up the prodigious claim—backed, according to BILD, both by an anonymous ‘Ukrainian government official’ as well as ‘German government representatives’—that Witkoff mistook Putin’s demands for Ukraine to leave Kherson and Zaporozhye as concessions for Russia to leave the contested regions:
Worse still, Trump's special envoy Witkoff is said to have completely misunderstood some of the Russians' statements and misinterpreted them as concessions on Putin's part. He misunderstood Russia's demand for a “peaceful withdrawal” of Ukrainian forces from Kherson and Zaporizhzhya as an offer of a “peaceful withdrawal” of Russian forces from these regions.
And here we thought that direct meetings would put an end to the infamous ‘telephone game’ Western leaders so often use to shield their conniving.
Granted, virtually anything co-written by Julian Roepcke should be taken not with a grain, but a grain elevator of Himalayan seasalt, but we must admit that the media’s oddly suspicious tiptoeing around this topic—the blackout of the critical Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as part of Russia’s demands—does seem to lend some credence to the debacle.
The next problem is that Zelensky has already categorically rejected any territorial concessions at all, reminding the world that Ukrainian lands are baked into the Ukrainian constitution and cannot be given up:
Of course, these territories are now baked into the Russian constitution as well, so it’s a case of whose constitution takes precedence.
A Ukrainian official allegedly told Axios that a referendum could be held to cede the territories:
A Ukrainian official also told the publication that even if Zelensky agrees to Putin's demands, he will have to hold a referendum, as the Constitution of Ukraine does not allow ceding territory.
This is particularly interesting given the latest polls making the rounds that show the majority of Ukrainians now want an end to the conflict.
In Gallup’s most recent poll of Ukraine — conducted in early July 2025 — 69% say they favor a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible, compared with 24% who support continuing to fight until victory.
This marks a nearly complete reversal from public opinion in 2022, when 73% favored Ukraine fighting until victory and 22% preferred that Ukraine seek a negotiated end as soon as possible.
So, if Zelensky definitely won’t so much as entertain the thought of giving up territories, and if Russia presumably is sticking to its guns on both Kherson and Zaporozhye, then what exactly is there to talk about between US and Russia?
There are two aspects to this answer:
First, we must understand exactly what is being talked about. The current Russian offer on the table goes as follows: If Ukraine withdraws its troops from all territories in question—that is Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye—then Putin has stated he would effect an immediate ceasefire. But this refers not to a total end of the conflict, but rather a temporary ceasefire that would set the stage for true negotiations on the conflict’s end to begin.
In short, Putin is saying: “If you withdraw your troops, we will silence our guns long enough to see if we can reach a real and final conclusion to the war.” If such a conclusion subsequently cannot be reached, then it is assumed Russian guns would again begin cracking.
We must assume that either the Americans understand this and have some plan in hand to deliver this Russian demand, or that BILD is right and Witkoff blitheringly misinterpreted Putin’s requests again—and the summit will be a pointless exercise.
Assuming the former: what can the US possibly do, given Zelensky’s clear recalcitrance? The only possible solution would be to up the pressure on him and get rid of Zelensky once and for all—but he’s turned out to be far more wily and resilient than either side gives him credit for.
The other big thing to consider is that the Europeans have already stated multiple times that they would not repeal their sanctions on Russia even if the US reversed its own. So ask yourself, what possible incentive would Russia have to make a deal with the US, which may be largely contingent on sanctions reversal, if a large portion—perhaps the majority—of the sanctions remain by way of the Europeans? So this avenue, too, seems unworkable.
The only sensible explanation appears to be one which is a natural extension of our previous one here, which spoke of Trump’s desire to disentangle himself from his own sanctions trap. It would seem that one possible motive for this summit would be a mechanism for Trump to again shift blame onto Zelensky as a vehicle for his removal. Trump could announce that a “deal” had been reached with Russia, then highlight to the world that it is Zelensky who is now refusing ‘sensible’ concessions, which would give Trump the political capital to throw Ze under the trolley and extricate himself from the big sanctions deadline the world was awaiting. “Why would I sanction Russia when they have shown interest in peace, and Zelensky is the one now blocking it?”
Apart from these psychological games, it’s hard to imagine how the summit could reach any tangible results. In line with Witkoff’s gaff, even Putin appeared to treat the ‘solemn’ rapprochement with a bit of tongue-in-cheek ribbing, which could point to Putin’s state of mind—or in other words, his lack of respect or seriousness toward the entire circus. I refer to Putin’s trolling of Witkoff, wherein the Russian leader presented Trump’s gopher with a state award—the Order of Lenin—to be given to the currently serving Deputy Director for Digital Innovation of none other than…the CIA:
You see, this CIA deputy director’s son happened to fight and die in Ukraine…on Russia’s side. You may recall photos of the Bohemian-looking hippie making the rounds last year:
Michael Alexander Gloss fought for the 137th Regiment of the 106th Tula Airborne Division of the Russian Airborne Forces. He was killed on April 4, 2024, near Veseloye-Rozdolovka (near Soledar), Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
For Putin to hand Witkoff this young fellow’s state award, to be relayed back to the CIA, is a major ‘alpha’ power play and troll-job-in-one designed to irreverently convey the broader message that Russia will not play second fiddle to the US in any negotiations.
It should be noted, though, this report of Putin’s “award” is mere hearsay on MSM’s behalf—again through the “sources in the administration” grapevine—which is another way of saying, it could easily be another psyop meant to weaken the summit and US-Russian rapprochement in general—though no one has denied it, either.
Lastly, here Trump further hints at the angle that the summit is meant to pressure Zelensky, where he says that Zelensky needs to get his things in order and figure out how to sign whatever it is he needs to sign to give up territories:
Trump does mention the ‘swapping’ of some territories, by which we can only assume—as there is virtually no other logical option—that he expects Russia to give back parts of Sumy and Kharkov.
At the end of the day, the earlier point stands: how could Russia ever rely on a deal only with the US when Europe continues to reject any such deals? What security guarantee can Russia possibly have merely under the aegis of the US’ promise, when Europe will continue supplying Ukraine with money, aid, weapons, etc.? It’s simply impossible to imagine Russia finding an equitable solution here, unless Trump has some major plans for bringing Europe to heel.
Even as we speak, Zelensky has retreated into a ‘huddle’ with European leaders, who have thrown their own makeshift spoiler summit to again show ‘solidarity’ in rejecting anything Putin and Trump come up with. From Russia’s perspective, this is an impossible scenario, which seems to further support the theory that this is just another stage of Trump’s slow sabotaging of Zelensky.
Arguably the more important story, one overshadowed by the ‘summit’ charade, has to do with the behind-the-scenes galvanization of the BRICS as consequence of Trump’s latest hostilities toward the group’s members. India was reportedly appalled by Trump’s perceived sudden backstab and began to signal a commitment toward Russian relations, particularly of the economic variety.
Putin is now reportedly scheduled to visit India at the end of August—according to Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval—and is then heading to Beijing on September 3rd. These visits were the original reason I had assumed the Alaskan summit was a no-brainer, as Putin appears to be set for a long tour of that side of the world and Alaska would be an obvious local stopover.
Putin’s Indian visit is reportedly at Modi’s invitation—an invitation made after Trump began his economic bullying of India via sanctions. This is an obvious signal of defiance by Modi and India, and the fact that both of them are set to then meet with Xi in Beijing forebodes even bigger developments as some have pointed out:
9/3 Beijing is the new Yalta to shape the world order: Modi, Putin and Xi will be there, Trump will be left out in the cold. PM Modi to visit China for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, 1st trip to Beijing since 2019.
This comes days after Brazil’s Lula likewise reacted harshly and defiantly to Trump’s sanctions threats by again calling for global de-dollarization:
Brazilian President Lula: “It’s time for the world to move away from using the U.S. dollar in international trade.” “I will also not forget that they tried to stage a coup here”
Keep in mind Brazil already created its own SWIFT-bypassing payment system called PiX several years ago, and Trump’s admin just last month launched an ‘investigation’ of it, particularly as PiX has badly hurt Visa and Mastercard’s business.
The powerhouses of the Global South have shown their defiance in the face of Trump’s economic yoking, which is likely what has led to Trump’s desperate cashout attempt in Alaska. He needs a way to worm his way out of the war without exposing the US or himself as having an empty chamber (and a full chamberpot).
Lastly, to bring things around:
As they say, if you don’t have a seat on the table, you’re probably on the menu—from cartoonist Dave Brown:
With many thanks to Simplicius. See Simplicius the Thinker's Substack