The clear winner in Alaska is Vladimir Putin. A day in a global spotlight, equal billing with a true superpower leader, a red carpet welcome and most importantly for him no need to agree to a ceasefire.
He can fly home knowing Donald Trump has handed him a propaganda bonanza. Russian media which he controls completely will crow for weeks to come, milking the pictures like that of Putin laughing in the back of Cadillac One.
Crucially, Putin has wriggled off the hook yet again. He had until two weeks ago faced the threat of imminent severe sanctions that could have brought his economy to its knees by targeting his vital oil industry.
Donald Trump is one clear loser. He appears to have received nothing in return for bending over backwards to welcome the Russian leader. He said he would not be happy if Russia didn’t agree to a ceasefire but has failed to secure one.
The US president will not see it that way. He craves attention and big TV moments and yesterday delivered on that front.
Ukrainians who were not invited are losers too. It means the shelling and drone attacks on their homes goes on. Many more of them will die.
Social media here in Ukraine lit up in fury as the extraordinary pictures from Alaska came in.
“He occupies territories… destroys entire cities, kills, rapes, robs, kidnaps, tortures, and as a result receives a red carpet welcome,” was one comment typical of many.
This morning a prominent Ukrainian artist Nikita Titov posted a striking image that sums up the worldview many believe is emerging from Alaska. The communist hammer and sickle but with Donald Trump’s trademark red tie replacing the hammer.
If Trump was sincere in wanting the killing to end he could resort to far more effective means than inconclusive summitry. Secondary sanctions on Russia’s oil industry and those who trade in it would be something for Putin to think about.
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Read more:
Mapping the land Ukraine could be told to give up
What we expected from the summit – and what happened
Ukrainians are hugely frustrated Trump seems strangely reluctant to impose them. To them, this summit was an elaborate ruse to avoid doing so again.
In both substance and outcome Alaska sends a clear message to Ukraine and its European allies. America may carry on supporting their defence but now by selling not supplying weapons. It may or may not carry on providing absolutely essential military intelligence. But otherwise they are increasingly on their own.
That penny has been dropping for months in European capitals. Alaska has only rammed the point further home. The challenge for Europe is to ramp up its ability to support Ukraine quickly enough to fill the growing vacuum left by an American president whose sympathies increasingly lie elsewhere.
