Russia and Ukraine Agree: A Trump Summit Is a Big Win for Putin

The talks on Friday in Alaska pull the Russian leader out of diplomatic isolation from the West, and Ukrainian and European leaders fear it gives him an opening to sway the American president.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, iced out of the Alaska talks about his own country’s future, has come to the same conclusion, telling reporters on Tuesday: “Putin will win in this. Because he is seeking, excuse me, photos. He needs a photo from the meeting with President Trump.”

But it is more than a photo op. In addition to thawing Russia’s pariah status in the West, the summit has sowed discord within NATO — a perennial Russian goal — and postponed Mr. Trump’s threat of tough new sanctions. Little more than two weeks ago, he vowed that if Mr. Putin did not commit to a cease-fire by last Friday, he would punish Moscow and countries like China and India that help Russia’s war effort by buying its oil and gas.

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Mr. Trump suggested this year that Ukraine was responsible for the invasion of its own territory and refused to join America’s traditional Western allies in voting for a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s aggression. On Sunday evening, Mr. Zelensky worried aloud that Mr. Trump could be easily “deceived.”

Mr. Trump responded testily on Monday to Mr. Zelensky’s insistence that he could not surrender territory. “He’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?” Mr. Trump snapped. “There’ll be some land swapping going on.”

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Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump participate in a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan in 2019.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/world/europe/trump-putin-alaska-summit.html

I'm wondering what does Putin know about Epstein and *rump?