Taiwanese and Ukrainian flags. The Trump–Putin summit risks greenlighting China’s move on Taiwan
Russia made it clear on Wednesday that its position on ending the war in Ukraine hasn’t changed since President Vladimir Putin laid out his demands last year: the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from key regions and the abandonment of Kyiv’s NATO ambitions.
Yet on Friday in Alaska, U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin will meet for the first U.S.–Russian summit since 2021. Trump has floated the idea of swapping land between Russia and Ukraine as the path to peace. But if Putin is holding firm to his maximalist demands and Ukraine refuses to surrender territory, what is the point of this summit?
If Trump agrees to Putin’s terms, it would be nothing short of a capitulation — a sellout of Ukraine’s sovereignty and a dangerous precedent for the rest of Europe. Such an agreement would legitimize territorial conquest through war, reward aggression, and undermine the credibility of any security guarantees Washington offers its allies.
And the stakes go beyond Europe. China is watching closely. Any gains Putin secures in Alaska will send a powerful signal to Beijing that military aggression pays — emboldening Chinese leaders to move against Taiwan. A Trump–Putin land-for-peace deal would not just weaken Ukraine, it could ignite a new era of territorial conquest from Eastern Europe to the Pacific.
A summit without realistic middle ground is theater, not diplomacy. Unless Trump is prepared to stand firm against Putin’s ultimatums and defend Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, this meeting is already a failure in the making — and could set the stage for the next global crisis.