“A great and very successful day in Alaska! The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO,” said President Donald Trump in a Saturday Truth Social post.
He went on to say that “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
However, experts and news outlets have been singing a different tune about the outcome of the summit between Trump and the Russian Federation leader. In particular, experts have noted that the summit concluded without the promise of a ceasefire.
“The highly anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday concluded earlier than expected, with an awkward press appearance and no formal deal,” said The Washington Post. The outlet added that the summit ended up being a public relations victory for Putin, as Trump “dropped his demand for a ceasefire, saying Russia and Ukraine should start agreeing on a final peace deal instead.”
This week, Leon Panetta, former director of the CIA and secretary of defense under former President Barack Obama, as well as the founder and director of the Panetta Institute at Cal State Monterey joined KCBS Radio to share his thoughts on the summit. With no ceasefire agreement finalized, his assessment wasn’t glowing.
“The president basically said that there’s no deal here, they did not get there, and so you know as far as I can see – aside from you know probably having at least some… discussions on other issues – when it comes down to the fundamental test of success for this summit, it frankly failed.”
Panetta, who has dealt directly with Putin himself, said he believes that Trump has a “hard time understanding” the Russian leader. Trump has complimented Putin in the past, but has recently expressed frustration with the Russian president.
“I think the president really felt that somehow, because of… what he thought was their friendship, that he could somehow be able to schmooze Putin to move towards some kind of ceasefire,” said Panetta. He added that Trump seemed to think welcoming Putin on a red carpet might have worked to convince him to move in a different direction.
In reality, Putin is a “tyrant,” according to Panetta, and “he’s not to be trusted.” What that means is Trump would have to increase weapons shipments to Ukraine and put tough sanctions on Russia to move the needle closer to a ceasefire, Panetta told KCBS.
Russia began its illegal invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, and the U.S. has since sent the sovereign nation billions in aid. As of the three-year- anniversary of the invasion this February, more than 12,654 civilian men, women, girls, and boys have been killed, and over 29,392 have been injured in territory controlled by Ukrainian authorities, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. In July, new casualties hit a three-year high, and Russia has continued systematically targeting Ukrainian infrastructure.
Russia has also suffered significant casualties. According to a June report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Russian casualties were expected to hit 1 million this summer.
“You have to listen to the words of Putin in that press conference,” said Panetta of this week’s summit. “He said that ‘the root causes of the war’ have to be eliminated… well the root cause of the war is the fact that Russia does not recognize Ukraine, does not recognize the right of the people of Ukraine to govern themselves.”
Panetta went on to say that Putin still seeks to annex Ukraine and that he wants to prevent the nation from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a group of countries who first allied against the former Soviet Union (today mostly consisting of the Russian Federation). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pushing for Ukraine to be accepted into NATO, which would trigger other nations to fight on its behalf.
By saying that he wants to get rid of the “root causes of the war,” Putin is saying that he still wants those terms met. Or “essentially that he has to succeed in conquering Ukraine,” Panetta explained. “That’s where Putin’s coming from. We have to understand… that’s where he’s at, that he… he believes ultimately he can win.”
“The last thing you want for the president of the United States is to fail in achieving the goals of a summit,” he told KCBS.
While Panetta wasn’t sold on the narrative that the talk brought Ukraine and Russia any closer to peace, the president still seemed hopeful Saturday.
“President Zelenskyy will be coming to D.C., the Oval Office, on Monday afternoon. If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved,” he said.