Expert: Putin may use meeting in Alaska to achieve goals that his army cannot achieve

This opinion was expressed in a comment to Ukrinform by Oleksandr Khara, an expert on foreign and security policy and Executive Director of the Center for Defense Strategies.

“Trump has effectively accepted Putin’s proposal. In the spring, the U.S. President offered Ukraine a comprehensive and unconditional ceasefire, and Ukraine agreed to it, but Putin rejected the proposal. And now we are not talking about peace, but about a ceasefire in exchange for major political concessions on the part of Ukraine, which are completely unjustified by the situation on the battlefield. In other words, Putin wants to achieve through Trump what he is unable to achieve by force of arms,” Khara said.

He also stressed that territorial issues can only be resolved by the Ukrainian people.

“According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the constitutional order, which includes the borders and territorial structure of Ukraine, is exclusively a matter for a national referendum and cannot be changed either by a decision of parliament or by a decision of the President of Ukraine,” the expert stressed.

He added that there is no evidence that Putin wants an end to the war and some kind of peace agreement, while Khara admitted the possibility of a partial ceasefire.

“Putin is being hurt by our strikes on his oil refineries. We know that Russia is, in fact, a gas station. The less the oil refineries work, the less oil and petroleum products can be sold. On the other hand, Russia is launching massive strikes on Ukrainian cities. So, this is something that both sides could theoretically agree on,” the expert suggested.

At the same time, he said he did not believe that the Russians would stop their offensive in eastern Ukraine.

“It is clear that Putin wants to capture at least the entire territory of the Donetsk region up to the administrative borders to consolidate his position and continue to threaten or launch military operations against other Ukrainian regions that are not currently occupied. The only thing that could prompt him to agree to some form of ceasefire is an awareness of the deep economic problems he faces and an understanding of the time needed to mobilize enough people and prepare them for further combat operations. There are no other prerequisites for the cessation of hostilities, let alone some kind of peace agreement,” Khara believes.

In his view, it would be wise to prepare for the war to continue for a long time.

“There may be a short pause, but the goals of Putin and his regime remain unchanged. The vast majority of Russians support this genocidal war against Ukraine. In principle, he has the resources and can drag out the war. Under these conditions, the most important thing for Ukrainian citizens to do is to understand that the war will not end quickly. Today, the most important thing is to help the Defense Forces and, of course, to maintain national unity, because striking at national unity is one of the goals Putin is pursuing by offering some kind of compromise. Although in reality, any compromises offered to us are exclusively at Ukraine’s expense,” the expert said, adding that Western partners offer no guarantees that a ceasefire will not end in large-scale aggression again.

“Therefore, we can hope for anything, but we must prepare for the continuation of this conflict,” concluded Oleksandr Khara.

According to Ukrinform, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on August 15 in Alaska. Before this meeting, EU leaders signed a statement in support of Ukraine, with Hungary not joining. EU leaders stressed that the path to a just and lasting peace in Ukraine cannot be determined without Ukraine’s participation.

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