Last August, Russia triumphantly presented the summit with the United States in Alaska as a victory in its war to annex Ukraine, later. poetic brilliance about the “spirit of Anchorage.”
Almost a year later, the spirit is gone. On Wednesday, Russia’s top foreign policy official Yuri Ushakov he told it Russian media: “I don’t know about the ‘spirit of Anchorage.’ I have never used that phrase.”
Last August, Russia triumphantly presented the summit with the United States in Alaska as a victory in its war to annex Ukraine, later. poetic brilliance about the “spirit of Anchorage.”
Almost a year later, the spirit is gone. On Wednesday, Russia’s top foreign policy official Yuri Ushakov he told it Russian media: “I don’t know about the ‘spirit of Anchorage.’ I have never used that phrase.”
Ukraine, meanwhile, has been publicly resentful of US mediation, even as its military efforts begin. achieve success against Russia-starting the two sides for a longer war.
On the US side, the talks have been led first by Steve Witkoff, a real estate businessman and friend of US President Donald Trump, and later jointly by Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
The Kremlin initially appeared to be willing to woo Witkoff’s team, with Witkoff traveling to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin personally six times for a marathon. conversationas well as meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Lavrov. Russia was also sent Kirill Dmitrievmerchant, to to represent economic aspects of the agreement between the United States and Russia regarding Ukraine.
But despite the court-wide media, little progress has been made. Russia has been those who don’t want to to stop its demand for full control of the Donbas region of Ukraine, and the US side has proven unwilling or unable to pressure Ukraine to give it up.
A senior European diplomat who was not authorized to speak on the record said they believed the U.S. side was disappointed that Ukraine had not ceded Donbas despite the U.S. pressure-but that the United States believed that Russia would eventually take over the Donbas in time, which would once again open the way to a negotiated peace agreement.
Trump has repeatedly positioned Russia as the most powerful country in the war, telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2025. the meeting that Ukraine did not have a “card” and said in December 2025 that Ukraine was “to lose.” US Vice President JD Vance previously said that Ukraine would possibility lose Donbas.
Yet the Trump administration has somehow pulled its punches when it comes to Kyiv: Although it has reduced the amount of aid it gives to Ukraine, it still sells arms to the country through NATO, provides Kyiv with intelligence assistance, and embargoes Russian oil (although those sanctions have partial elevation)
Russia’s apparent enthusiasm for US-led talks has waned. In March, Lavrov he said the spirit of Anchorage was melting; and in April, he said conversation were not Moscow’s “top priority”.
“It’s clear they’re not in (the talks),” said John Herbst, executive director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
Nor is it clear that Russia will eventually take over the Donbas, as Vance predicted. Russia has gained little ground in the Donbas and recently even lost some land in other regions.
At the same time, the White House’s pressure on Ukraine has reduced its ability to pressure Kyiv to stop relying on US aid. Following the reduction of US military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, European countries largely changed the funding, according to the Kiel Institute for World Economics, a German think tank. And in April, the defeat of the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban opened $104 billion in EU funds for Ukraine.
Ukraine has also rapidly increased its domestic production of weapons, including interceptor drones and ground robots. Kyiv continues to be dependent on the United States for delivery (via European countries) of anti-ballistic missilesbut the limited impact of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s combat capabilities means that US capabilities there may be limited.
And Ukraine’s own campaign against Russia is beginning to bear fruit. Thanks to its use of drones and other technologies, Ukraine is to kill Russian soldiers faster than Russia can easily replace them. In turn, this forces the Kremlin to use pressure tactics on the university students and business get new employees, the possibility of creating an atmosphere of domestic chaos.
Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil production facilities are also chewing in the country’s energy-based economy, and contribute to a predicted growth of 0.4 percent for this year.
All of which seemed to make Ukraine more comfortable with openly criticizing the United States, and Zelensky saying in April that US mediators did not have “time for Ukraine.”
Amid mutual disappointment with the US-led process, Ukraine and Russia have said they are open to Europe leading the talks. On Sunday, Zelensky spoke with European Council President António Costa about involving Europe more directly, including appointing a delegate to represent Europe in the talks. European leaders have discussed former German leader Angela Merkel as well as former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi as possible options. Financial Times information.
Putin on May 11 proposed former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has close ties to Russia, as a mediator, a proposal that European leaders have made. dismissal.
Whether Europe can succeed where the US has stumbled is unclear, though. At the very least, Europe will not take the same approach as Trump, Herbst said. “I don’t see the Europeans conquering Ukraine – because Russia is the aggressor.”
The individual EU member states themselves, however, have very different policy attitudes towards Russia, from the hawkish Baltic to the more pro-Russian. Bulgaria.
“The Europeans may have begun to find a messenger, but they are still a long way from settling on a message,” said Peter Slezkine, director of the Russia program at the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank. “Until they do, little progress is possible.”
