“Ukrainians aren’t pinning much hope on the US-Russia summit. Putin has made it clear that he won’t abandon his war aims. And many people are also disappointed with Donald Trump . He gave Putin an ultimatum to end the war. And when the deadline expired, nothing happened. Instead, there’s suddenly talk of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia.”

Nataliya Butyrska, Associated Senior Fellow at the New Europe Center, stated in interview for German Merkur.de on the eve of Alaska summit.

The expert warns that any deals made without Ukraine risk serving Putin’s interests, as his aim is not to end the war but to gain legitimacy and concession: «Talking about Ukraine without the Ukrainians naturally carries the risk that Putin could pressure Trump into making concessions that are not in Ukraine’s interest. Especially since the Europeans won’t be present in Alaska. For Putin, this meeting isn’t about ending the war. It’s about sitting at the same table with Trump. Putin wants to show that he is anything but isolated internationally and that Russia is still perceived as a major power».

Nataliya Butyrska stresses that Ukrainians reject territorial cessions, cautioning that even a temporary ceasefire could weaken international support and allow Russia to regroup for future aggression: «The Ukrainians naturally want a lasting peace. But that’s not possible with Putin. A ceasefire is realistic. Putin could, in particular, agree to an end to air hostilities. But he’s only doing this to prevent Ukraine from attacking targets inside Russia. Such a ceasefire, which isn’t permanent, would also be very dangerous for Ukraine because the world would think: Nothing’s happening on the front lines, the war in Ukraine is over. Support for Ukraine would collapse, and the Europeans would have a hard time convincing people to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine. And then two or three years later, Russia attacks again. We can never trust Putin».

Read more via the link here (in German).