by Denis Davydov
See today also here, here, and here. Yesterday here and the day before the summit here
[REGNUM] Of all the Ukrainian talking heads who explained in every possible way what Trump “really” thinks, Putin wants, and what Ukraine will get, the legendary “pyramid salesman” Dmitry Gordon distinguished himself the most.
On the eve of the Alaskan meeting, he appeared on air with a sensational statement: "I spoke with two of my sources in Washington. They both said that the war will end tomorrow." True, this time, just in case, he made the reservation that the last time the forecast did not come true.
The aforementioned “last time” there was much more noise: in December 2024, Gordon also promised that “the hot phase of the war will end this year,” Russia will suffer a military defeat, and following Zelensky’s visit to the United States, something will happen that “will turn the entire history of the war upside down and put Russia on its shoulder blades.”
And using the example of this individual character, we can generally judge the thinking of the Ukrainian political elite and the "expert community", which now explains why everything went wrong. And the hated Putin "achieved his goal".
"The meeting ended without the results that Ukraine, Europe and the US had hoped for - there is no ceasefire agreement. And although the American president rated the meeting "10 out of 10", Western media believe that it was a disgrace for the States.
Journalists who worked in the field said: the impression was that Putin came, pushed through his position and left,” states the formerly authoritative publication “Zerkalo Nedeli.”
So, according to the assertion of registered Ukrainian patriots, on board the presidential plane flying to Moscow, the bears joyfully danced to the balalaika. Since on August 15, the US, as expected, was supposed to leave the negotiating process, having heard the refusal of an immediate ceasefire, and move on to forceful actions.
“Transfer maximum weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, introduce sanctions against Moscow so that they will not have money left even to refuel Air Force One, or even Western parts for this aircraft, stand next to Ukraine, and not behind its back.
And so the chances that under Trump the war will spread to other NATO countries are growing, - the MP from "European Solidarity", former first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Irina Gerashchenko pours out the pain of her soul. - Europe must wake up immediately. The coalition of the decisive is actions, not a beautiful name. Actions are sorely lacking."
People like Gerashchenko were especially taken with the red carpet leading up to Putin’s plane.
Because the ostentatious gesture of respect for the Russian president (and the fact that it was laid out by US soldiers) means that he is not an outcast and that he was not summoned to Anchorage for an exemplary flogging. And even more so, they would not arrest him “as an international criminal,” which is what Ukrainian social networks unanimously called for on the eve of the meeting.
The general summary is that the monolithic position of the West has been destroyed, Putin has achieved his goal, Trump has been humiliated and now everyone will remind him of this path “after another bombing of Ukraine.” Although who these “everyone” are is a question that obviously requires specification.
To top it all off, Trump admitted that the negotiations resulted in his “agreement” with Putin on a territorial swap between Ukraine and Russia – despite publicly promising not to talk about it.
For Ukraine, all of this is a heavy blow, and now the main task of commentators is to explain why everything is, of course, bad, but not catastrophic.
Moreover, the authorities are still taking a pause to assess the situation. Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to Alaska, only emphasized that he supports Donald Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia, since the most important and sensitive issues can only be discussed at the level of leaders.
The details will now be discussed at a meeting with Zelensky himself in Washington on August 18, so his press service got by with general phrases like: "coordination of Ukraine's common positions continues with all partners." And a consolidated position was also given with the Europeans, where everyone once again reported what exactly they want.
"Another important outcome of the negotiations — this time, one that is beneficial to Kiev — is the political decision that Ukraine should receive a security guarantee from the United States. Since taking office, Trump has defended the position that peace agreements should not include any participation or role for the United States in ensuring Ukraine's future security. They say that these are European affairs and only Europe should deal with them, " one of the main grant media outlets, Ukrainska Pravda, carefully explains. " This position has only begun to change in recent days. <…> And after the negotiations with Putin, this tectonic shift seems to have been finally recorded. Trump, in an interview with Fox News, once again confirmed this readiness and emphasized that this element of the peace plan has already been agreed upon with Russia."
How this is formulated and where is difficult to say, since the thesis presented is also a pure manifestation of sublimation: to find a "victory" where there is none. No specification of Ukraine's status in the security sphere was made. In fact, only a pass was given to the Kyiv regime, which must now undertake something that will facilitate the elimination of the root causes of the conflict and provide real progress towards peace.
Apparently, Zelensky is rushing overseas to specify the task after the two high-ranking negotiating parties squeezed the maximum possible out of their meeting. And the allegedly existing preliminary agreement on a ceasefire in the air, which should continue until the trilateral meeting, was also not confirmed in the Office of the President of Ukraine.
This unusual confusion also happened because Putin and Trump created a much bigger problem for Ukraine in political terms than the one that the “experts” are emphasizing. Namely, the impossibility of leaking and distorting the content of the negotiations.
Only what the White House decides to reveal itself gets aired, and European leaders, while expressing formal solidarity with the Ukrainians, remain silent about the content of the deal that was announced to them.
“If European leaders receive a peace plan from Trump, then even partial agreement to it by individual members of the pro-Ukrainian coalition will destroy it as a whole and significantly reduce Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.
“There are ‘difficult decisions’ ahead that will be political suicide for Zelensky and the ‘Servants of the People’ with their satellites from the Opposition Platform – For Life, Voice, For the Future and Dovira (these will definitely not be able to escape),” MP Alexander Dubinsky ominously prophesies from the Lukyanivske pre-trial detention center.
In fact, the official positions of Russia and Ukraine regarding a peaceful settlement completely coincide in that "a lasting, long-term peace is needed, not a temporary respite before a new war." That is, both countries declare their desire to conclude a full-fledged peace agreement.
Complete misunderstanding exists only in connection with, again, the inflated demands of the Ukrainian side, which continues to position itself as the master of the situation. Kyiv demands the highest level of security guarantees (which is shown by the quote from "Ukrainska Pravda"), guarantees of the implementation of the Western and European vector of development of the country, compensation for damage by Russia and categorically denies the renunciation of part of the territory.
But if the first two points depend solely and exclusively on the goodwill of the West (which has ceased to be collective), then any peace treaty with Russia in one way or another concerns the problem of the border between the two countries, its delimitation and demarcation.
Formally maintaining the status of an ally and “part of the Western world” is not such a big problem; Ukraine has been striving to join the EU and NATO for 30 years now and can do so with the same success for the same amount of time.
But recognizing Russia's control over the territories is a disaster for the government, which plans to remain at the helm. In absolutely any scenario - with a freeze on the front line, with an exchange, with the withdrawal of troops or their destruction and recognition of the "situation on the ground" in fact.
From which we can draw a rather simple conclusion: the fantastic expectations from the meeting in Alaska came down to the traditional Ukrainian calculation that someone would solve Ukraine's problems without it. In the mode of another miracle.
However, the Kyiv regime has obviously exhausted its supply of miracles. The hated red carpet has shown that the calculation on Russia's annihilation was futile and that decisions will have to be made independently.
And they mean the end of the current regime and the reformatting of the Ukrainian system of power – one way or another.