Icy ground

It is fitting that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump should meet today in Alaska. The largest US state, Alaska was purchased in 1867 from Russia for $7.2 million. Known as “Seward’s Icebox” and “Seward’s Folly,” after US Secretary of State William Seward, Alaska countered critics by repaying the US in the 1890-1910 gold rush and subsequent mineral production.

The aim of the summit is a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has complained that he has not been invited to the two-man summit and insisted that Kyiv rejects any loss of territory and must approve any deal. The Putin-Trump meeting follows three hours of discussions between the Russian leader and US envoy Steve Witkoff which Trump said was “highly successful” and progress had been made. During his campaign for a second presidential term, Trump vowed to end this war “on Day One.” When he failed, he said he was joking” and called this “an exaggeration.”

Trump has given Putin until today to end the war or face “very serious tariffs and Sanctions” which would cripple Russia’s oil exports and cut financial connections.

Ukraine and its European allies oppose ceding territory occupied by Russia since 2014, including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. Putin argues Ukraine must relinquish some of these regions. He has called for an end to US and European aid to Ukraine and renunciation of Kyiv’s bid to join NATO. Trump has said a deal would involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”

A deal is likely to require Ukraine to surrender Crimea and adjacent territory. Crimea has been a contentious issue since 1954 when the Soviet Union transferred Crimea to Ukraine which was a then Soviet state. The 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union into independent states has changed regional dynamics in favour of the Western powers and caused Putin concern.

The NATO issue precipitated this unnecessary war. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev and US Secretary of State James Baker agreed that, following the reunion of NATO-member West Germany with the former Soviet East, NATO would not move “one inch” eastwards. However, Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia joined the Western alliance between 1999 and 2020. Putin repeatedly complained that NATO’S military presence was being built up in countries neighbouring and within Ukraine. From 2008, Putin repeatedly warned that Ukraine’s membership in NATO was a Russian “red line.” Nevertheless, in 2021, US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Ukraine to join NATO in defiance of Russia which responded by deploying forces on the Ukrainian border and invaded in 2022.

It is in the interest of both Russia and Ukraine to reach a ceasefire. According to the British Defence Ministry a million Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the war began. Ukraine has suffered 400,000 casualties, with 60,000-100,000 military deaths.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified a total of 46,085 civilian casualties in Ukraine as of May 31, 2025. Of them, 13,341 have been killed and 32,744 people were reported to have been injured. Casualties are expected to be higher.

While Trump promotes an end to the Ukraine war as it is taking place in Europe, he has given Israel a greenlight to occupy all the Palestinian territory of Gaza in West Asia. Despite warnings from Britain, France, and other European countries and from Israeli opponents to the Gaza war, Trump has said, “That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel.” United Nations official Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council last week that Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s plan would “risk catastrophic consequences.” Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have suffered Israeli blockade since March 2nd, denying them water, food, medicine and fuel. The death toll from starvation since the war began has risen to 217, including 100 children, and thousands more are suffering severe to acute malnutrition which could cripple many for life. The UK-based charity Save the Children condemned Israel’s blockade as “a devastating milestone that shames the world” and argued that the Israel is using starvation as a “weapons of war – a war crime under international law.”

Trump is the only world leader who can put pressure on Netanyahu as the US provides Israel with funds and weapons it requires to wage wars as well as protection from international sanctions for war crimes. Although a ceasefire would lead to the release of 50 Israeli captives of Hamas in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners of Israel and to an end to the war, Netanyahu has, instead, won cabinet approval for the occupation of Gaza City and enclaves in the south which amount to about 14 per cent of Gaza’s territory. If he goes ahead at least of a million Palestinian civilians would be driven from these areas and faced with a dilemma over where to go as there is no safe place of refuge in Gaza. More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed and 152,350 wounded since Israel launched its 22-month war on the strip following an attack by Hamas which killed 1,230 and abducted 250.

Photo: TNS