‘The world behaves irrationally’

The Ukrainians went to bed on Friday evening with the frightening possibility that Donald Trump could be seduced by Vladimir Putin to offer important concessions on the war.

They woke up on Saturday morning to note that the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska had rather dropped without any strategic or political agreement. It was a rare example of a failed summit as relief.

In the absence of any real developments, attention in Ukraine turned to the aspects of presentation of the summit – the “optics”, in political words.

Putin, the man responsible for the war of devastating aggression against Ukraine, had received the warmest possible welcome in Alaska. American soldiers kneeling to literally deploy the red carpet for him. Trump applauded it and offered a friendly handshake. The two leaders rose together alone in the presidential limousine of Trump and Putin could be seen laugh while the car moved away.

For the Russian president, who has been avoided internationally since his large -scale invasion of Ukraine, the greeting marked the start of a remarkable return to the world diplomatic scene and gave a tone that would continue throughout the day.

In Ukraine, it was not a welcome show.

“The red carpets and this level of ceremony are normal during international events, but in this case – for an attacker responsible for the death of millions – that should not have happened,” said Maria Drachova, 40, lawyer for the capital kyiv.

Drachova, who woke up and looked at the images during breakfast, said he seemed that “the whole event was staged to please Putin”.

“The rational world behaves irrationally by giving it this welcome,” she said.

Putin’s plane had been escorted in the air base in Alaska by four American fighter planes and while walking on the red carpet, speaking jovially with Trump, an American B-2 bomber flew over four additional jets.

The Ukrainians who had stayed late to watch the show saw the “legitimization of a war criminal at the highest level”, said Oleksandr Kovalenko, Ukrainian writer and political analyst.

“There was no need for this pump at all,” said Kovalenko. “This is a meeting that should have been organized much more sober – minimalist, without this level of respect.”

After the greetings, Trump and Putin sat before a herd of journalists at the base of the Air Force Elmendorf, under a banner who said “pursuing peace”. A question was shown in Putin: “Do you want to stop killing civilians?”

The Russian chief seemed to smile sly and made a gesture in his ear to suggest that he could not hear.

With the general’s smiles, laughter and good will, the gesture struck a very sour note in Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands were killed and injured in the war of aggression of Russia.

“When I saw what happened, I felt crushed,” said Serhii Orlyk, 50, from the eastern province of Donetsk, who was largely seized by the Russian forces and seen some of the most intense fights in the war.

“I lost my house twice, in Slovians and Donetsk. I lost parents,” said Orlyk. “I understand that to agree on something, there must be a protocol, you cannot just slap Putin in the face when he arrives. But it was a very unpleasant spectacle – especially his smiles.”

Deference to Putin continued after negotiations. In a joint press statement, Trump gave way to the Russian chief to speak first. He spoke for about eight minutes, carefully avoiding any mention of how the war started – with a striking act and not caused by Russia.

Putin appeared energetic, satisfied with the way the summit had disappeared. Trump, on the other hand, appeared unusually deflated and spoke for just two minutes. He could not boast anything with the approach of an agreement – the currency by which he tends to operate.

Instead, he had given the initiative to Putin, said Kier Giles, a principal researcher of the Russian and Eurasia program in Chatham House.

“It was a massive victory for Putin before even leaving the plane, to be rehabilitated in this way,” said Giles. “Trump facilitated him by arriving to be welcomed as a head of state, when he had to have trouble traveling because he is a war criminal at the international level.”

Trump’s approach is unlikely to inspire European leaders to follow suit, said Giles. “If anything, it will strengthen how important it is not to approve Putin’s requests in Ukraine, and not to submit to the same types of spectacle that wins Trump’s contempt.”

In a declaration on Saturday, President Zelensky stressed the importance that European leaders are present at each stage of the negotiations. They are often considered a bulwark against the possibility that Trump is unduly influenced by Putin.

But before it happens, Zelensky will go to Washington on Monday, the scene of his disastrous oval office confrontation with Trump in February. He hopes for a better result this time and a path to peace which does not imply renouncing the aggressive requests of Russia.

The United States had a “wide range of tools” at its disposal to help Ukraine in this mission, Oleksandr Kovalenko said the political analyst. But the pump and the ceremony for President Putin should not be among them, he said.

“Perhaps everything was intended to deceive and flatter Putin, and to push him to follow the strategy of the White House,” said Kovalenko.

“But I doubt it. More likely, it is Trump’s whim, without any strategy at all.”

Additional report by Daria Mitiuk