BRUSSELS: European diplomacy on Ukraine produced only brief shifts in US President Donald Trump’s position after his 2025 Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The newspaper said European leaders coordinated messages and copied Trump’s communication style to reinforce Western positions. Their strategy relied heavily on praise and personal engagement.
After the August 15 summit in Anchorage, Trump appeared doubtful about Ukraine’s battlefield prospects. He also showed interest in a Russian peace proposal closer to Moscow’s terms, according to the Journal.
The report said a confidential assessment circulated by a European country outlined possible US-Russia commercial projects.
They included joint rare-earth mining in the Arctic. The assessment was not publicly available for independent verification.
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European leaders publicly insisted that Ukraine must decide its territorial future. They also demanded firm security guarantees and continued pressure on Russia in an August 16 statement.
French President Emmanuel Macron then urged allies to accompany Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington.
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Zelenskyy arrived on August 18 with leaders from France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Finland. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also attended.
The intervention delayed Trump’s movement towards Moscow’s proposal, the Journal said. However, it reported that he questioned Kyiv’s prospects again within weeks and considered Russian initiatives offering opportunities for US companies.
Read: Putin Warns of ‘Serious Consequences’ if Ukraine Uses Western Arms on Russian Soil
The White House publicly presented the August 18 meeting as progress towards peace. It also said Trump was willing to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a British Secret Intelligence Service assessment found that repeated flattery had lost effectiveness, according to the Journal.
