The summit in Alaska over the weekend between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended without any concrete pathway to peace. Kurt Volker, the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and the former special representative for Ukraine negotiations, told Newsmax on Saturday that Putin “did not back off of any of his maximalist demands on territory.”
“On Ukrainian withdrawal from more territory, on neutrality for Ukraine, on no security assurances for Ukraine, [Putin] didn’t back off on any of those things. He changed the subject from talking about a ceasefire to now talking about a trilateral summit with Zelenskyy. And President Trump, who a week ago was threatening severe consequences if Russia did not agree to a ceasefire, has now not followed up on that at all. So Putin looks to have really played this very well, to have given nothing at all, and to have bought yet more time to keep the war going,” Volker said during an appearance on “America Right Now.”
Retired Air Force Brig. General Blaine Holt joined the conversation and said that a critical issue not mentioned much in the press is the meeting that occurred between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. “They really got down to the nitty gritty about the efficacy of the sanctions. I think what this comes down to is the Russians are pressing a military advantage right now. The Russian army is in a full offensive right now, and it’s winning, unfortunately. But what they don’t want is a frozen conflict. They’re going to try to avoid that. And they want a cessation of the war instead. And final terms that’s going to have to be debated that week. That’s the next challenge,” he added.
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