Trump-Putin Alaska Summit Proceeds Without Ukraine’s Seat at the Table

Great-power carve-ups conducted without the affected nation—Yalta 1945 or the 1973 Paris Peace Accords—often lock in asymmetrical outcomes; Friday’s Alaska summit risks repeating that pattern. The episode reflects two long arcs: the post-Cold-War struggle over Europe’s security map and a 21st-century trend toward personalised, leader-driven diplomacy that sidelines institutions and process. Whether or not a deal emerges this week, the very fact that a U.S.–Russia tête-à-tête can exclude Ukraine signals a potential re-normalisation of spheres-of-influence politics that the UN charter sought to banish in 1945. On a 100-year horizon, such precedents may matter more than any single cease-fire line, because they reset who gets a voice when borders are redrawn—and history shows that borders redrawn without local consent rarely stay still for long.