Countdown in Alaska - The hour of truth for Trump, Putin and Ukraine

In Anchorage, Alaska, temperatures on this Friday are just barely in the double digits - but politically it is a day when the thermometer climbs into the red zone. In just a few hours, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet for a summit whose outcome will resonate far beyond this day. It is about the future of the war in Ukraine, about the security architecture of Europe - and about the question of how far an American president is willing to go to accommodate a Kremlin leader who has been branded an aggressor for three and a half years.

Around the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center, where the meeting is to take place, the backdrop is set: security zones, barricades, snipers on rooftops. But between the roadblocks, blue-yellow flags are waving. Hundreds of protesters have traveled from all parts of the USA to Alaska to send the world a picture that could not be clearer: The United States stands - regardless of the words that Trump will choose today - united on the side of Ukraine. “Slava Ukraini,” they shout, while drums beat and banners are held up that brand Putin as a war criminal.

Trump himself is traveling with the attitude of the “dealmaker” - that figure he has embodied for decades. His allies praise him as the man who could end the war called the “slaughterhouse” in the shortest possible time. But the reality is more complicated: Putin’s strategic goal is an agreement that cements Russia’s conquests, blocks Kyiv’s NATO membership perspective and forces Ukraine step by step back into Moscow’s sphere of influence. Between these maximum demands and the conditions of Kyiv yawns a deep gap. Whoever wants to bridge it today in Alaska must bring more than confident gestures.

That Putin is allowed to negotiate on American soil is, for many observers, a political gift that the Kremlin chief could hardly have dared to dream of. After years of isolation, this reception offers him the desired stage - and Trump the risk of going down in history as the president who made Russia’s head of state acceptable again. Even before the first hands are shaken, it is clear: The world will study the body language, dissect every formulation and in the streets of Anchorage continue to wave the flags. The countdown is running - and the clock is ticking not only for this summit but for the political credibility of the United States.

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