Does Trump Want A Peace Deal From His Talks With Putin Or Is It Just A Glorified Photo Op?

Donald Trump and Vladimir PutinDonald Trump has already been building up expectations for his Ukraine peace talks with Vladimir Putin on Friday.He mentioned their face-to-face meeting repeatedly during press conference on Monday on the unrelated matter of crime in Washington DC – although he mistakenly said they were meeting in Russia not Alaska – and described himself as a “dealmaker”.The US president claimed he would be able to tell within the “first two minutes” if his Russian counterpart is up for making a deal.“That’s what I do, make deals,” Trump told reporters – before slightly backtracking, saying: “It’s not up to me to make a deal.”Still, he already has indicated that he might be looking for Ukraine to give away some of its sovereign territory currently occupied by Russia in exchange for peace.That Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already made it clear ceding any land would be a red line for Kyiv does not seem to matter to Trump.According to an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, Trump is more interested in a good photo opportunity than ending the war, which began three-and-a-half years ago.Jason Pack, who is also the host of the Disorder Podcast, told HuffPost UK that Trump is only focused on what he can personally gain from the meeting.He said: “He wishes to notch a success in Ukraine or Gaza, not because he cares about the suffering and injustice in either region, but to preen for the cameras and notch nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.“He does not seek to coherently maximise US strategic interests abroad but rather looks at foreign policy as a realm of distraction from domestic woes and to keep adversaries off balance.”The expert claimed that, despite regularly boasting about his American First policy, Trump is only thinking about his own reputation here.He said; “Trump’s approach is not about what America can get out of the talks, but about what Trump can get out of them.”Pack continued: “Just as the tariffs were not meant to strength the US economy (but rather to increase Presidential leverage over the private sector) and Trump backed away from enforcing them when they threatened ‘his beautiful bond market’, Trump’s negotiations with Putin in Alaska are not intended to secure American interests in Eastern Europe, but rather to create a neo-imperial photo op.”If Pack’s assessment is true, this will likely play well with Putin.Few believe he wants to end the war, especially as he is actually still succeeding on the battlefield and continually taking more of Ukraine’s land.As the Institute for Studying War (ISW) explained in its latest update, the Kremlin has also openly emphasised that Russia is unwilling to compromise and is still committed to its original war goal of demilitarising Ukraine.Similarly, Lord Darroch, the former British ambassador to the US, told Times Radio, little is expected to come out of the meeting.“The safest prediction to make is that not very much will come out of it,” he said.“The Russians are briefing in Moscow that this is basically a meeting about improving Russian-American bilateral relations, which shows their focus is not really about Ukraine,” he said, noting that the US is still claiming its all about Ukraine.“The two parties are way too far apart on any of the issues that need to be settled,” Darroch said.The ex-ambassador said there may be a form of temporary ceasefire and the launch of some future negotiations.For anything more effective, he claimed there is usually a long process leading up to meetings between leaders where points of agreement and potential disagreements are identified.He explained that he believed this face-to-face was arranged with little notice and the prospect of Ukraine peace is too difficult to deal with in one meeting.“That is Donald Trump for you,” the former diplomat said. “He genuinely believes that it’s him face to face with Putin, that’s going to be the answer.”“That is Donald Trump for you…He genuinely believes that it’s him face to face with Putin, that’s going to be the answer.”Lord Darroch, former British ambassador to the US, tells @SebastianEPayne he suspects “not very much” will come of Trump’s meeting with Putin. pic.twitter.com/At8tXkrO3u— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) August 12, 2025Related...Trump Hints He Will Reward Putin's Invasion By Demanding Ukraine Give Up LandConvicted Felon Trump Lies About Crime Rate In DC And Deploys TroopsJD Vance Sends A Clear Message To Elon Musk Following His Public Feud With Trump

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