Opinion Today: Is this really how we get to peace in Ukraine?

August 20, 2025

Deputy International Editor, Opinion

It was a lot of sound and fury, signifying stasis.

After President Trump’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Alaska on Friday, after a follow-up conversation on Monday at the White House with Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and his backup squad of European leaders, where are we when it comes to halting Russia’s war on Ukraine? Really not much further along than before.

Times Opinion writers explored the many ways Putin appears to have kept peace at bay. The columnist M. Gessen called suggestions of a “land swap” merely extortion by Russia. Thomas L. Friedman, in a column, decried Trump’s embrace of a “coldblooded murderer” and said the American president has little understanding of Russia’s assault on the West.

The columnist Bret Stephens cast his self-described “neoconservative” eye on Trump’s actions: the embrace of a dictator contemptuous of rights and untrustworthy in agreements, while at the same time unable to stand up to aggression or meaningfully guarantee Ukrainian security.

After the Friday meeting in Alaska, the Times Opinion writer Serge Schmemann concluded that a cheery Putin had bought more time to wage war and predicted that Trump would probably just lose interest.

Finally, the Ukrainian journalist Olga Rudenko in a guest essay said what must be obvious to her compatriots: The summitry and diplomacy is fundamentally unnecessary for stopping the slaughter. “Russia could just go home,” she pointed out.

Read Opinion’s coverage:

Three men (Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron) stand next to each other in front of various flags.

M. Gessen

The Real Meaning of the Zelensky Summit Was Not as It Appeared

And while we’re at it, let’s think about the phrase “land swap.”

By M. Gessen

Thomas L. Friedman

Ukraine Diplomacy Reveals How Un-American Trump Is

Trump doesn’t feel any gut need to bring Ukraine into the West or understand that Putin’s invasion of that country was just his latest march to break up the West.

By Thomas L. Friedman

In a blurry photo, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Trump clasp hands before a blue backdrop that says “Pursuing Peace.”

Bret Stephens

Trump Just Reminded Me of Why I’m Still a Neocon

By putting the interests of what Trump calls “peace” ahead of the interests of freedom, we are all but guaranteeing that Ukraine will lose both.

By Bret Stephens

Serge Schmemann

What Was the Trump-Putin Meeting Even About?

Few East-West meetings have ended with less clarity than Friday’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. What was clear, though, was that Vladimir Putin was well satisfied.

By Serge Schmemann

Two men in suits (Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump) walk along a red carpet.

Guest Essay

All Russia Needs to Do Is Go Home

The meeting was a stark reminder of a simple truth: The real barrier between President Trump and peace in Ukraine is Vladimir Putin.

By Olga Rudenko

Here’s what we’re focusing on today:

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