Alaska talks will test the desire for peace in Ukraine

Is there now a chance to end Russia's war in Ukraine? Are both sides in this bloody stalemate finally willing to give peace a chance, despite real reservations by both Moscow and Kyiv to keep the fighting going just a little longer? More importantly, are Ukraine's backers, notably the US and European countries such as the UK, Germany and Poland, able to exert enough pressure on Vladimir Putin to make a deal?

- John J Metzler

A few months ago, it became clear to Moscow that the US and the Europeans were on the same page to push for additional support for Ukraine's sovereignty; the geopolitical realignment by the US-Nato places increased pressure on Russia.

Now, President Donald Trump is set to meet Mr Putin during a landmark summit in Alaska this week as a prelude to presumably further negotiations, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This is long-shot diplomacy, which may get a long-awaited ceasefire in the war, or it could be just another opportunity for Mr Putin to smile and stall, to keep the clock running in Kyiv.

While the meeting on American soil offers Moscow’s leader both the legitimisation of diplomatic breakout without being slapped with an ICC arrest warrant, it offers Mr Putin the first in-person meeting with Mr Trump since 2018. This certainly trumps (no pun intended) Mr Putin’s meetings with Arab leaders, a host of African potentates, and Brazil's Lula da Silva. This is gold standard stuff.

Yet the Ukraine peace talks are set in the shadow of an overlooked backdrop of another diplomatic development very close to Mr Putin’s concerns, as it borders Russia’s southern frontier.