Image source, EPA
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- Author, Joel Gunter
- Author's title, BBC News, Kyiv
The Ukrainians went to bed on Friday night with the fear that Donald Trump could offer concessions to Vladimir Putin in the war that whips his country since 2022.
But they woke up on Saturday with the news that the summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska ended without any strategic or political agreement.
The apparent failure of the summit turned out to be a relief for many.
In the absence of events, attention in Ukraine focused on the optics of the summit.
Putin, the man responsible for a devastating war of aggression against Ukraine, was received in Alaska in an extremely warm way.
American soldiers knelt to literally extend the red carpet.
Trump applauded as he approached him and offered a friendly handshake.
The two leaders then traveled together in Trump's presidential limousine, and Putin smiled while the car was moving away.
For the Russian president, who since his large -scale invasion of Ukraine has been isolated internationally, that welcome marked the beginning of a remarkable return to the world diplomatic scene and established a tone that would continue throughout the day.
But in Ukraine such show was not well seen.
“The red carpets and that level of ceremony are normal in these types of international events, but in this case – when it is an aggressor responsible for the death of millions of people – it should not have happened,” says Maria Drachova, 40, who works as a lawyer in the capital of Ukraine, Kiyv.
Drachova, who woke up and saw the images while taking breakfast, says that it seemed as if “the whole event had been mounted to please Putin.”
“The rational world is behaving irrationally by giving this welcome,” he says.
Putin's plane was escorted to the Alaska Air Base for four US fighters and, while walking through the red carpet, getting talked jovially with Trump, an American bomber B-2 flewing the area flanked by four other fighters.
“There was no need for so much pomp”
The Ukrainians who transulated to see the show saw the “legitimation of a war criminal at the highest level,” says Oleksandr Kovalenko, Ukrainian writer and political analyst.
“There was no need for so much pomp,” Kovalenko continues. “This is a meeting that should have been held much more restrained: minimalist, without this level of respect.”
After the greetings, Trump and Putin sat in front of a group of journalists at the Elmendorf air base, under a banner in which he read “in pursuit of peace.”
A journalist shouted a question to Putin: “Are you going to stop killing civilians?”
The Russian leader smiled and pointed his ear to imply that he could not hear the questions.
Together with the smiles, laughter and good will in general, the gesture left a very bitter note in Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of people have died and many more have been injured after the Russian invasion.
“When I saw what happened I felt dejected,” he tells the BBC Serhii Orlyk, 50, a resident of the eastern province of Donetsk, which has been largely taken by the Russian forces and has been the place of some of the most intense fighting of the war.
“I lost my house twice, in Sloviansk and in Donetsk. I have lost relatives,” says Orlyk.
“I understand that to agree something there must be a protocol, you cannot slapped Putin as soon as it arrives. But it was a very unpleasant show, especially for its grimaces.”
Image source, Getty Images
Submission to Putin continued after negotiations.
In a joint statement to the press, Trump gave way to the Russian leader to speak first.
He spoke for about eight minutes, carefully avoiding any mention of how war began: with a surprising invasion not caused by Russia.
Putin was energetic and satisfied with the development of the summit.
“A massive victory for Putin”
Trump, on the contrary, seemed deflated and spoke two minutes.
He could not presume anything to approach an agreement, the currency with which he usually operates.
Instead, he gave the initiative to Putin, according to Kier Giles, principal researcher of the program on Russia and Eurasia of Chatham House.
“It was a massive victory for Putin even before he got off the plane, being rehabilitated in this way,” Giles explains.
“Trump made it easier for him to be received as head of state, when he should have difficulty traveling because he is a war criminal searched internationally.”
Image source, Reuters
It is unlikely that Trump's approach inspires European leaders to follow their example, according to Giles.
“In any case, it will reinforce how important it is not to support Putin's demands on Ukraine, and not submit to the same type of show that is generating contempt for Trump.”
In a statement made this Saturday, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, stressed the importance of European leaders being present in all phases of negotiations.
They are often considered a bulwark against the possibility that Trump will be improperly influenced by Putin.
But before that happens, Zelensky will return on Monday to Washington, the scene of his disastrous confrontation in the Oval Office with Trump in February.
This time awaits a better result and a path to peace that does not imply surrender to the aggressive demands of Russia.
According to political analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko, the United States has a “wide range of tools” to help Ukraine in that mission.
But the pomp and the ceremony towards President Putin should not be among them, he says.
“Perhaps all this intended to deceive and flatter Putin, and push him to follow the White House strategy,” adds Kalenko.
“But I doubt it. It is more likely to be a whim of Trump, without any strategy.”
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