White House summit raises peace hopes but will Putin keep playing for time?

With Russian forces gaining the upper hand, he believes time works in his favour

- Jonathan Eyal

LONDON - US President Donald Trump claims he is organizing an unprecedented trilateral meeting between himself, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in his latest bid to stop Europe's biggest and bloodiest confrontation since World War II.

After intensive talks in Washington with Mr Zelensky and six other heads of state and governments of key European nations, as well as the head of Nato, on Aug 18, Mr Trump took to social media to claim that he had spoken to Mr Putin, and "began the arrangements" for the Russian-Ukrainian meeting mediated by the US at "a location to be determined".

The Russian leader has previously resisted a face-to-face meeting with Mr Zelensky. So, if Mr Trump has indeed succeeded in overcoming Mr Putin's objections, that would represent a substantial diplomatic breakthrough.

Yet, doubts persist over what Mr Trump may have accomplished.

All that Mr Yuri Ushakov - Mr Putin's top foreign policy aide - was prepared to concede is that the "idea" of direct Russia-Ukraine talks was discussed between the Russian and US leaders during their latest 40-minute phone call in the early hours of Aug 19, and that the Russian leader was "open to the idea".

Nor is it clear if the talks should be about concluding a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, or whether the objective is to reach a permanent settlement to the three-year-old Russia-Ukraine war.

Still, Europe's leaders have cause to be satisfied with the diplomatic maneuvering, taking it that they have succeeded in deflecting President Trump's initial demand that Ukraine should give up chunks of its territory in return for a stop in the fighting.

And they also appear to have persuaded Mr Trump that the US should offer security guarantees to Ukraine at the end of the war.

The latest bout of frantic diplomacy was unleashed by Mr Trump's decision to invite Mr Putin for a bilateral summit in Alaska on Aug 15.