The eyes of the world will turn to Alaska on Friday for the meeting between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin — the first meeting between U.S. and Russian leaders since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Many analysts have framed the meeting as a coup for the Kremlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not expected to attend. While Trump and Putin negotiate Kyiv’s future, the Ukrainians will be absent. Trump said Wednesday that a potential second summit bringing Putin and Zelenskyy together is possible after the Alaska event.
All along the 600-mile front line in southern and eastern Ukraine, it is war-weary Ukrainian troops who are deciding Putin’s hand. Russian forces are still trying to grind their way forwards, the Kremlin hoping that more seized territory will give it more leverage in the torturous negotiations, analysts have said.
“Of course, we all read the news — and each of us has a different opinion about it,” Col. Oleksandr Zavtonov of Ukraine’s 30th Marine Corps told ABC News from the southern front, near the city of Kherson.
Ceasefire speculation, he added, “remains at the level of smoke room talk. The war continues, and we see no reduction in the intensity of hostilities or any other signs that the Russian monsters are committed to a peaceful resolution of their own aggression.”
“We have clear orders and tasks that we must carry out,” Zavtonov said. “The struggle continues.”
The diplomatic struggle has peaked this week, with Zelenskyy and his top officials lobbying Western partners to back Ukraine’s long-held positions in eventual peace talks — among them no territorial concessions, maintaining its ambition to join NATO, accepting no limits on its post-war military and ensuring lasting security guarantees from its foreign backers.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy said his meetings with Trump and European leaders addressed “expectations from the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects.” Among the topics were security guarantees “that can make peace truly sustainable if the United States still manages to pressure Russia to stop the killings and engage in real meaningful diplomacy,” he said.
Putin, meanwhile, praised what he said was the Trump administration’s “energetic and sincere” efforts to end the conflict.
Trump’s frustration with Putin appeared to be building as Moscow expanded its ground and long-range strike operations in recent months. But with the two men now set to meet on Friday without Ukrainian involvement, Kyiv appears concerned that Trump will again align himself with Russian narratives and demands.
Zelenskyy appears to have marshalled Trump and European leaders into backing five key Ukrainian demands. Kyiv said there can be no peace talks without a ceasefire, that Ukraine must be involved in negotiations and that Ukraine will make the decision on any territorial concessions with discussions beginning from the current front lines.
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Ukraine has also said it needs solid security guarantees — with U.S. involvement — to agree to any deal, and that more sanctions and pressure should be put on Russia if the Alaska summit is unsuccessful. Trump agreed to all key points, Zelenskyy and his European counterparts said after Wednesday’s discussions.
Kyiv will be hoping to win some respite for its forces all along the front, which are reporting more Russian attacks, despite continuing to inflict high casualties on Moscow’s units.
In Kherson, Zavtonov said there is intense fighting over the control of a handful of small islands in the Dnieper River — the western bank of which is held by the Ukrainians and the eastern bank by the Russians.
Ukrainian forces defeat dozens of Russian efforts to land on the islands of the river’s western bank each week, Zavtonov said. “We have sufficient forces and resources to counter the aggressor in our defense zone,” he explained, though declined to speak in detail about manpower and supply availability there, citing security concerns.
In the city of Kherson, which sits along the river-turned-front line, the civilian population is also under fire.
Russian drones, artillery, rockets and airstrikes are near-constant in the city. Locals who have not fled are forced to live in what they have termed a “human safari,” dodging Russian strikes that at times appear to intentionally target civilians, local Ukrainian officials have said.
“These are brutal, inhumane actions that have nothing to do with internationally accepted rules of warfare,” Zavtonov said. “They are aimed solely at terrorizing us and breaking our will to fight.”
“Thanks to electronic warfare systems, most drones seem to be neutralized, but unfortunately, a few drones manage to break through, causing deaths and injuries among the civilian population,” he added.
At the country’s northeastern border, Maj. Oleh Shyriaiev — the commander of the 225th Separate Assault Regiment fighting in Sumy — said he and his comrades remain “confident that the United States will continue to offer assistance along with European countries,” despite fears over the outcome of Friday’s talks.
The 225th has in recent weeks been lauded by Zelenskyy for its work in reversing Russian gains in Sumy. The president visited the unit’s positions last week to hand out awards and receive a situational briefing from Shyriaiev and others.
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Shyriaiev said U.S. material support remains vital more than three-and-a-half years into Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“We continue to rely on this support for additional air defense systems along with U.S. weapons like HIMARS missiles, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Claymore mines, grenades and 5.56mm-caliber American assault rifles,” he said.
“Ukraine will push forward regardless of the outcome of Friday’s meeting, but that support is crucial,” Shyriaiev added.
