On August 15, 2025, the world’s attention turned to Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska, where U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met face-to-face for the first time since 2018. The high-stakes summit, lasting nearly three hours in a tightly controlled “three-on-three” format, was billed as a potential turning point in the grinding war in Ukraine. Yet, as the dust settles, the diplomatic fallout and political turmoil in Washington reveal a far murkier picture.
Following the Alaska summit, President Trump described the talks as “productive,” but admitted that no full agreement had been reached on several “important issues,” most notably Ukraine. According to reporting by the Kyiv Independent, both leaders held a brief news conference after the meeting, but the lack of concrete progress was palpable. While Ukraine was discussed at length, no deals were struck, and the summit ended with more questions than answers.
In the days that followed, the United States and Ukraine floated the idea of new leader-level talks with Russia. However, President Putin effectively rebuffed these overtures, suggesting instead that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travel to Moscow. Zelenskyy, for his part, interpreted this as a clear signal that Russia is not interested in genuine peace and is actively avoiding direct negotiations. As he put it, “Russia does not want peace, is trying to evade leader-level negotiations and is sending corresponding signals.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, accused Ukraine and its allies of “coordinated sabotage” of the Anchorage agreements. Still, Ryabkov insisted that Moscow remains in contact with Washington and that dialogue continues “along various lines.” He acknowledged, however, that “there are problems with transforming the powerful impulse that came from the leaders following their meeting in Anchorage into real agreements.” Economic cooperation with the U.S., Ryabkov added, remains on the agenda, with special representative Kirill Dmitriev working on the issue.
But the diplomatic stalemate is only one side of the story. On the ground in Ukraine, the violence has been relentless. On September 17, 2025, Russian drone and missile attacks killed at least three people and injured 54 more across the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Kherson regions, according to Ukrainian officials cited by the BBC. The strikes targeted not only residential areas but also critical railway infrastructure. A massive drone attack disabled electrical substations, disrupting operations and causing delays for at least 46 trains, with passenger services to Odesa and Dnipro thrown into chaos. “The enemy tried to disable substations that power the railway network with a massive drone attack this night,” Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba stated.
Regional governors confirmed the human toll: 23 wounded in Zaporizhzhia, including four children; nine injured in Donetsk’s Kostiantynivka; and 15 more in Kherson. The attacks are part of a broader Russian strategy that, according to The New York Post, includes relentless barrages on civilian targets and even drone incursions into NATO territory in Poland and Romania. These provocations have not gone unnoticed in Europe. The EU, alarmed by the increasing threats, is planning to spend billions on a “drone wall” to protect NATO countries from Russian incursions, as reported by the Financial Times. Coordination is key, an EU official warned, because “you can’t have one [frontline] state doing one thing on their border and another doing something different. Russia will just tailor their approach to our weaknesses.”
Within the U.S. Senate, frustration has reached a boiling point. As of September 17, a wave of indignation is growing over President Trump’s refusal to allow tough bipartisan sanctions legislation against Russia and countries that continue to buy its oil. According to Politico, senators on both sides of the aisle are exasperated by Trump’s “conflicting signals” toward Russia, which have sowed tensions within the Republican party. “I’m sick of Trump, J.D. (Vance) and their ‘love affair with Putin,’” one senator admitted, referencing both the Alaska summit and Vice President Vance’s recent comments defending Putin’s approach to peace talks.
The skepticism is fueled by recent Russian provocations, including a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine just last week. “They’re just testing how much we’re willing to bend. It makes me sick,” another American politician confessed. Many senators now doubt Trump’s commitment to supporting Ukraine or increasing pressure on Putin, criticizing the administration for tough rhetoric but a lack of decisive action.
The editorial board of the New York Post echoed these sentiments, lambasting Trump for delaying the “very severe” sanctions on Russia and its trading partners that he has repeatedly promised. Trump’s special envoy, Gen. Keith Kellogg, bluntly stated that “Russia is, in fact, losing this war,” citing a million Russian casualties since November 2022 for less than 1% of Ukrainian territory gained. Kellogg and USAF Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly told Trump this before his face-to-face with Putin in Alaska. Yet, despite these warnings, Trump has continued to hold off on new sanctions, tying U.S. action to unanimous agreement among NATO nations to stop buying Russian oil.
Europe, for its part, has already slashed Russian oil imports by 90% since the start of the war, leaving Turkey and a handful of others as outliers. Meanwhile, the U.S. still imports certain Russian goods, including fertilizer, palladium, and uranium, totaling $3 billion in 2024. China’s trade with Russia remains robust, with $160 billion in goods shipped last year, $63 billion of which was oil. The editorial board argued that sanctioning Beijing for this trade could cripple Putin’s war machine, but such a move would require a level of international coordination that remains elusive.
Amid these diplomatic and political battles, the human cost continues to mount. New research funded by the U.S. has identified some 210 sites where Ukrainian children are believed to have been taken for military training and forced re-education by Russia, with reports of children participating in drone manufacturing as part of a large-scale deportation program. The findings, published by Yale’s School of Public Health, mark a chilling escalation in the war’s impact on Ukraine’s most vulnerable.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has warned that Russian forces are preparing two more major offensives this fall, following three failed campaigns earlier in the year. In just the past two weeks, Russia has launched over 3,500 drones, more than 2,500 powerful glide bombs, and nearly 200 missiles at targets inside Ukraine. The scale of the assault, paired with Moscow’s refusal to negotiate, has left Kyiv’s Western allies grappling with how best to respond.
As the war rages on, the question of American resolve looms large. With Congress eager to impose new sanctions and European defenses on high alert, the next steps taken in Washington and Brussels will shape not only the fate of Ukraine but the future of the Western alliance itself. For now, the world waits—and Ukraine endures.