Speculation, Criticism Fill the Void as Details of Trump–Putin Summit Remain Elusive
Volker “hates to make comparisons to the 1930s, but this is very similar to giving Hitler the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia and hoping that’s all he takes, and then he takes the whole country.”
While we recognize the need for discretion surrounding what was discussed between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their Alaskan summit on Friday, the lack of specifics remains frustrating. The absence of information has created a vacuum that voices on both sides of the aisle, particularly the Left, are eager to fill with their own interpretations.
During a weekend interview with Fox News host Jonathan Scott, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker opined on what he’s been hearing from his sources about the rendezvous in Alaska: not only does Putin insist on retaining the territory Russia currently occupies, but he is also demanding that Ukraine hand over territory that Moscow has so far been unable to conquer.
In fact, unconfirmed stories about Putin’s demand for unconquered territory have been circulating since the talks ended. It is entirely plausible, even likely, that it’s true. And clearly, that demand is unrealistic.
Volker dismissed this as an unserious proposal that, in his words, “really makes [Trump] look very weak.”
As a seasoned diplomat, Volker is well aware that Friday’s summit was merely the opening phase of a high-stakes negotiation. And in any such process, parties begin by shooting for the moon, knowing they will ultimately have to settle for less. I would remind Volker that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will not give up any territory, which is an equally unrealistic expectation.
In Volker’s eyes, Putin was the clear winner on Friday night. “Putin got away without doing anything,” he said. “He got the red carpet treatment from President Trump. He did not agree to a ceasefire. He did not reduce any of his maximalist demands.”
Did Volker forget that Putin was not welcomed with a wide red carpet, but with a narrow red strip leading directly to Trump? Moreover, the Russian dictator was met on arrival by the roar of a B-2 bomber and a fighter jet flyover.
He criticized Trump for not immediately slapping Putin with sanctions because he didn’t walk away with the ceasefire he’d hoped for.
But Volker wasn’t finished. Although he “hates to make comparisons to the 1930s, but this is very similar to giving Hitler the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia and hoping that’s all he takes, and then he takes the whole country.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday morning. Asked why Trump did not place sanctions on Putin, Rubio said that would have ended the talks.
I want everyone to understand, if this morning, the president woke up and said, ‘I’m putting these terrible, strong sanctions on Russia,’ that’s fine, may make people feel good for a couple of hours. But here’s what you’re basically saying. Talks are over for the foreseeable future, for the next year or year and a half, there’s no more talks.
Putin has shown a willingness to speak with Trump. The two appear to have developed a rapport. The war that was expected to last for two weeks is now well into its fourth year. Stronger sanctions can be enacted at any time — and if current negotiations collapse, they almost certainly will be.
Putin is already feeling the squeeze. Although the Russian economy showed some initial resilience, the weight of existing sanctions, war costs, and shrinking oil revenues are taking their toll. Trump’s new 50% tariff on India caught Putin’s attention, as did the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in June. Far from viewing Trump as weak, Putin understands that he is dealing with a leader unpredictable enough — and willing enough — to change the course of the conflict at any moment.
Rubio further noted that if a peace deal is possible, President Trump is the only one who can bring it about. “Putin’s not going to meet with [French President Emmanuel] Macron, he’s not going to meet with the U.K., with all due respect to these leaders. These leaders are not going to bring him to the table.”
Pressed on a timeline for negotiations, Rubio was noncommittal. In the end, he said, it’s up to Russia and Ukraine. “But here’s what I can tell you for certain: You can’t have a peace deal between two warring factions unless both sides agree to give up something and both sides agree that the other side gets something. If one side gets everything they want, that’s not a peace deal, that’s called a surrender.”
Although this is unrelated to the immediate topic, The Daily Mail published a video of Putin’s presumably involuntary leg spasms at the end of the summit.
I guess russia was so overjoyed to have a clip of krasnov fawning over putler that they didn't mind openly showing putler's wobbly leg condition. pic.twitter.com/SWh1t3V0Zf
— Kricket (@Kricket_22) August 16, 2025
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
Volker’s loyalty was murky during the first Trump administration. His opinion is irrelevant to me.
I wrote a whole paragraph about Volker’s role in the impeachment inquiry and I deleted it thinking I was going into the weeds too much.
You may recall the significant role of former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker in then-Rep. Adam Schiff’s 2019 House impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. The difference between statements Volker made in his initial closed-door deposition with investigators, which were surprisingly benign, and his far more incriminating testimony during the public hearings before the House Intelligence Committee one month later was striking. The diplomat attributed the revisions to his account to having developed a more complete understanding of the situation.
Among the rediculous takes of the talks, Volker’s stands out as particularly stupid. He knows as much as I do about what was discussed but because Trump was involved he couldn’t help but bring Hitler into it.
How do these fools think this going to end after Obama and Biden threw open the invasion door to Putin? There can be no peace unless Russia is involved and since Europe isn’t interested in getting tough with Russia there is nowhere to go unless the left wants America to put boots on the ground which we were constantly told was bad during Afghanistan. Putin has no incentive to stop the war and won’t unless he keeps the warm water Black Sea port. That is going to happen and the left better get used to the idea. Sucks but Real Politick normally does. The US is not going to keep pouring money into that hole especially considering the massive corrupt going on, Trump is not getting NATO involved and will never commit US troops unless Putin is going to invade a NATO member which he has shown no interest in doing.
Everyone including The Comedian better put on their big boy pants and get a grip on reality. If Ukraine doesn’t take the best deal they can get under Trump’s attempt to end the war then they could very well lose their entire country
Time seems to obscure history repeating itself. I seem to recall that when Ukraine agreed to give up its stockpile of soviet era nukes, certain western countries “guaranteed “ Ukrainian security. Those guarantees appear to be useless or unenforceable. Could Ukraine rely on those countries to promise and actually provide security again ( not)!
Volker seems too fixed on performance arts. He omits the necessity real supporting action behind the performance, to make each more effective.
The comparison with 1930s is absurd. Germany was geared for Blitzkrieg, locked and loaded. Russia seems depleted, with not much to show for 4 years of fighting already.
Sounds like Volker missed some initial Russian concessions:
Witkoff: “We have agreed on serious security guarantees, which I would describe as game-changing. We did not think that we would be so close to an agreement on protection under Article 5 by the United States, legislative consolidation in Obligations of the Russian Federation not to encroach on other territories after the codification of the peace agreement, as well as legislative consolidation in the The Russian Federation has obligations not to attack other European countries and not to violate their sovereignty. So we have come to an agreement, and that’s not all,”
https://eadaily.com/en/news/2025/08/17/witkoff-russias-concession-is-not-to-seize-the-whole-of-ukraine
The white noise will exist no matter what. Maybe it was good that Trump and Putin, at this point, took no questions.
I hope they don’t televise Zelensky’s meeting with Trump tomorrow. 😁
A Harris admin would be waving a bloody rag, urging support for more Ukrainians to die to prop up the wall protecting the grifters in the US for their thievery. Putin is not Hitler and Trump is not Chamberlain. I am of the opinion that war was not inevitable. With the fall of the USSR, NATO became irrelevant. Russia was at its weakest. The Cold War had ended. As had been said, money can be made at the beginning and end of a country. Cashing in on the end of the USSR led to cashing in in Ukraine. The We$t killed Ukraine, not Russia. There will now be a West and East Ukraine. The seeds of this are Obama, Nuland and the EU confederates.
“…not only does Putin insist on retaining the territory Russia currently occupies, but he is also demanding that Ukraine hand over territory that Moscow has so far been unable to conquer.”
Putin wants the entire Donbas region that has mostly ethnic Russian residents and is about 70% conquered now.
It took over 3 years to get this point. I look at the map several times per week and have done so for most of the conflict. Russian progress over the last 2 years has been slow and methodical, but it has an air of inevitability about it.
A typical Russian strategic operation along the Donbas front goes like this:
Russian forces conduct a pincer movement that envelop a cauldron full of Ukraine forces. From the pincers, Russians pound the cauldron with artillery for days supported by drones and FABs (heavy bombs) delivered by high-altitude bombers then slowly squeeze the cauldron into submission with advancing troops. If Ukrainian forces are lucky, some escape between the ends of the pincers.
Rinse and repeat along the entire Donbas front.
The progress is slow but minimizes Russian losses. I can’t recall the last time Ukrainians were able to accomplish anything along the Donbas front other than a slow retreat. Virtually every week yields new Donbas territory for Russia.
With far more troops available than Ukraine can muster, Russia can continue this slow but inevitable progress for as long as it likes.
In Putin’s mind, he has the leverage he needs to demand the entire Donbas region even though it’s not fully occupied by Russia yet. Ukraine can either concede the Donbas region or eventually lose all of Ukraine. The only way Ukraine could stop that is if the West not only supplied more weapons but also troops. There simply aren’t enough Ukrainians to cover all the holes in the Donbas front, which is currently 260 miles (420 kilometers) long. That fact isn’t lost on Trump, Zelensky, and European leaders.
This YouTube channel has twice-daily updates with detailed map analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/@militarysummary
The front line of the map in the videos doesn’t change unless the content creator has irrefutable evidence (e.g., video or war minister statements) the front line on the ground changed.
Incidentally, the pincer method described above is the same method the Russians used to win WWII’s Battle of Stalingrad.
The answer to an AI query I made said Russia currently occupies 88% of the Donbas region, not the 70% I estimated above.
I think at this point in time, NATO and all allies need to state that once the agreement is reached, any attempt by Russia to start another taking of territory of another European country will be considered an act of war against the NATO block. I can see not adding additional countries to NATO but there can be no more land grabs or political takeovers. To do so will place Europe in the same position they were in with Hitler and with the USSR actions.