As Trump meets Putin in Alaska, Ukraine fears being 'sold out'
President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, Italy, on July 10, 2025. (Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)
War
As U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, prepare to meet face-to-face in Alaska on Aug. 15, Ukraine is left to watch the talks that could shape its future.
"It's not entirely clear what happens next," a source in the President's Office told the Kyiv Independent. "But it's clear that we're about to be a little bit sold out."
Earlier in the day, in a closed-door meeting with journalists, attended by the Kyiv Independent, President Volodymyr Zelensky seemed cautious about the upcoming meeting in Anchorage.
"Meaningful and productive talks about us without us won't work," Zelensky said. "I don't know what they (the U.S. and Russia) will talk about without us. Probably, they have their own bilateral track."
The Trump-Putin summit is set to take place as Russian forces breach Ukrainian defensive lines in Donetsk Oblast, advancing toward Dobropillia, thought to be a safe haven just a month prior. The intensified assault ahead of critical negotiations mirrors a tactic Russia has used for years.
"The purpose of this advance is clear to us: by Aug. 15, to create a certain information backdrop ahead of Putin's meeting with Trump, especially in the American information space, suggesting that Russia is moving forward and Ukraine is losing ground," Zelensky said.
For him, the Trump-Putin meeting is largely a "personal victory" for the Kremlin leader, an opportunity to "break out of isolation" on U.S. soil and delay American sanctions.
"I believe that Putin will win in this. Because he is seeking, excuse me, photographs. He needs a photo from his meeting with President Trump," the president added.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the parliamentary committee on international policy, echoes this sentiment, suggesting that the Trump-Putin meeting could be "a political show."
"Putin will try to convince Trump to adopt his point of view so that it becomes a joint demand of both Trump and Putin."
"In this case, since Trump is a non-classical president and a non-classical diplomat, his meeting at the highest level may be just for show," the lawmaker told the Kyiv Independent.
In the days following Trump's announcement that he would meet with Putin in Alaska, Ukraine's president engaged in a flurry of phone calls with European partners.
Amid Trump's public support for a "territory swap" and reports that Putin was demanding a full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, Kyiv's allies reaffirmed their support for the country's territorial integrity and insisted that Ukraine must be at the negotiating table.
According to Merezhko, Trump made "a serious mistake" by bringing up the idea of "land swapping," effectively giving Putin an opportunity to "impose his own agenda."
Zelensky said that during a recent call with Trump, European leaders, and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff — just back from the meeting with Putin — the envoy signaled that "Russia is ready to end the war," or at least agree to a ceasefire.
Yet, what kind of a ceasefire Russia wants, Kyiv is still not sure.
The president said that there is a "high likelihood" that Putin may demand a withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as a condition for agreeing to a ceasefire — a move, Zelensky said, Trump may tacitly endorse by saying, "The Ukrainians will have to do it."
The president then briefly said that Trump may also take Ukraine's side if he sees fit.
Merezhko fears that the worst case is Trump and Putin cutting a deal behind Ukraine's back, leaving Kyiv powerless and pinning it down to the fact of the agreement between Washington and Moscow.
"He (Trump) is now operating and negotiating within a framework not set by America or its national interests, but by Putin," Merezhko said.
"Putin will try to convince Trump to adopt his point of view so that it becomes a joint demand of both Trump and Putin. Then Putin will attempt to have Trump blame Ukraine, if it does not agree, for derailing the process and see Ukraine as an obstacle to at least achieving a ceasefire," he added.
What Ukraine is planning to do in response to any of the scenarios remains unclear.
When asked, Zelensky replied that Kyiv will continue to insist on a ceasefire, security guarantees, and direct Ukrainian involvement in any territorial discussions.
He also firmly rejects the idea of withdrawing Ukrainian forces from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, saying such a move would give Russia a foothold for future offensives against other Ukrainian regions.
"I haven't heard anything — not a single proposal that would guarantee a new war won't start tomorrow and that Putin won't try to occupy at least Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv," Zelensky said.
"He (Putin) has already started two wars under different U.S. presidents — what would stop him from starting a third?" he added.
"He doesn't need to occupy our country for the territory. He doesn't want a sovereign Ukraine. That's what this whole game is about."
Note from the author:
Hello there! This is Kateryna Denisova, the author of this piece.
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