Zelensky was not part of the conversations. In fact, Trump made it clear that the Ukrainian President has already spoken enough, without anything happening. You can go to Alaska, yes, but this is no longer the central point
It is in a land that it was from Russia almost a century that one will begin to draw the future of Ukraine, even if from the invaded country there is no one to say what they think about what is happening.
There is not so far, as the president of the United States has opened the door to the presence of the Ukrainian counterpart at the meeting that will gather Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
And this happens, in the view of the experts heard by CNN Portugal, because of the incessant search of the US President at the Nobel Peace.
“It was opted for an easy solution, which pleases Trump, because it is in the race to the Nobel Prize. We are in the middle of August and [Trump] You need a consensus as soon as possible. We look at the history books and know what will happen, “he adds.
Miguel Baumgartner agrees with this vision, warning that it can be Volodymyr Zelensky the great victim of everything that is going on, and has even been available to travel half a world to discuss the future of his country, fragmented since 2014 and fully shrewd from 2022, but it is unlikely that Kremlin accepts the presence of his great rival on the meeting.
“We are seeing a way … Everyone pointing out the gateway to Zelensky, who cannot give in,” says the international relations expert, who even advances the possibility of having a “frozen war”.
A war that would transform Ukraine in the same as North Korea today and South Korea or the control division on the island of Cyprus, with Greece and Türkiye to coordinate each part of the country.
“Maybe it was the easiest step for this incessant Trump thing, which put it on my head that had to be Nobel,” he reinforces.
For Putin this is another opportunity to show that Ukraine is just a small pawn in a big game game. The absence of a Ukrainian presence confirms this, leaving the country’s future to be discussed by two men from 8 to 80 with great ease.
And it is more than natural that Zelensky fears what will be discussed by the Arctic, since there has been a possible assignment of territory to Russia. Trump himself has already said, albeit without fully clarifying that cedencies can be. Russia occupies virtually the entire Lugansk region, much of DonETSK and has about half of Zaporizehzia and Kherson.
And these are the four regions that Putin wants fully, because he annexed and added to the Russian Federation in 2022, following a referendum that the international community did not recognize. Beyond this, Moscow still has his hands in some areas of Kharkiv and Sumy.
Cátia Moreira de Carvalho suggests that “neither the Americans themselves nor Trump have the idea of a continuous and lasting peace plan.” This is because the US President is “too interested in finishing war,” regardless of how this happens. “He wants with all the strength and the whole force to end this war,” he adds.
And that is why it remains difficult to understand such concessions or even another word that the US president mentioned: exchanges. Exchanges of what?, Asks the IPRI researcher, since Ukraine does not even have Russian territory. Only if Russia comes to occupy zones that it does not still occupy and leave others it has today.
As for the presence of the Ukrainian President, the American seems not to be so willingly. “He was not part of the conversations. I would say he could go, but he has participated in many meetings. They know, he has been there for three and a half years. Nothing happened,” Trump told journalists in the White House.
“We will have a meeting with Vladimir Putin and, at the end of this meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I will know exactly whether or not an agreement can be done,” said Trump.
“How will you know that?” A reporter insisted.
“Because that’s what I do. I make agreements,” said Trump.
And Miguel Baumgartner understands that this meeting will not be allowed by Moscow. This would be “the simplest form of Zelensky empowering himself from the position Putin refused him, from Ukraine leader.” And that is why the Ukrainian President “is no longer part of this equation.”
The president of the United States later added that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky would be needed, but it was no good about the molds in which this could happen.
“In the end, I’ll put them both in a room. I’ll be there, or I’m not there, and I think it will be resolved,” Trump added.
The US president also said that “there may be many definitions” of a good deal, but it also seemed to reduce expectations before Friday’s summit.
“I hope to have a meeting with Putin that I think it will be good, but it may be bad,” said Trump.
Regarding what can leave there, we returned to the theme territory: “Russia occupied a large part of Ukraine. They occupied primary territory. We will try to recover any of this territory to Ukraine.”
At the end of the day, Trump expects power in just two minutes to conclude whether the long trip he and Putin will make will be worth it. The president of the United States will have to go backwards, as Anchorage time zone, Alaska’s largest city, is four hours late compared to Washington DC. But it is even worse for the president of Russia, who will have to cross the Bering Strait and, consequently, the International Date Line, an imaginary line that marks the change of date as it is crossed.
The same is to say that Putin will walk a whole day forward, as the crossing of this line means walking 24 hours. If the intersection is west to this one, as the president of Russia will do, then walk a day forward.
In the midst of all this, watching without time changes, it is Zelensky, who risks having to resign himself to see his country discussed thousands of miles away.
