Media reveal how the Alaska summit with Putin helped shift Trump's stance on Ukraine
The shift in US President Donald Trump's stance on Ukraine is becoming increasingly evident, giving the Ukrainian side hope for a tougher approach from the White House leader towards Russia to push it into negotiations.
Sources told Politico that one reason Trump has become more favourable towards Ukraine was his joint summit with Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Politico recalls that Trump greeted Putin warmly in Alaska, rolling out the red carpet for him despite the fact that Putin's military continues committing war crimes in Ukraine under his orders.
Putin was received on US soil as a friend rather than as the leader of a rogue state that had invaded a sovereign European country, and all this took place without any prior agreement on serious concessions or a ceasefire.
The Russian ruler left Anchorage without agreeing to a truce, despite Trump saying during their joint press conference that the Russian leader was seeking to save thousands of lives.
A Republican foreign policy insider said that after the Alaska meeting, Putin showed no concern for human life, and continued strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine have largely influenced Trump's change of stance.
"Trump needed time to understand who Putin really is," the source said.
The insider added that Trump was infuriated by the media's coverage of the summit, which described it as a "Putin triumph".
Meanwhile, European leaders whom Trump likes have tried to ease tensions between the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy after their on-camera spat in the Oval Office.
The Republican insider named key figures in this process as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Starmer's national security adviser Jonathan Powell.
The source also said that Britain's King Charles played a decisive role by "telling Trump that Ukraine is great, and that has really changed Trump's view of Ukraine".
The insider also credited Zelenskyy for working diligently on his relationship with Trump and being careful in his subsequent statements.
"You have to understand that since the war began, Zelenskyy and [Andrii] Yermak [Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine] had been used to being treated as rock stars, as global celebrities, and then Trump enters and says: 'there's only room for one diva here – me'. That's why we had the Oval Office blow-up," the source said.
Evidence of improving relations includes increasingly friendly meetings between Trump and Zelenskyy, the warmest of which took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month, when Trump praised the Ukrainian leader as a "brave man".
Among other factors that have shaped Trump's changing view of Ukraine, another Republican foreign policy adviser mentioned China's reception of Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month.
"The best way to get back at Putin is to praise Zelenskyy – that's how Trump sees it," the adviser said.
To that end, Washington has recently increased intelligence sharing with Ukrainian defence forces to assist in strikes on energy facilities deep inside Russia.
Earlier, Politico reported that Trump is "optimistic" about the prospects of achieving peace in Ukraine after the successful ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages.
After the Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska on 15 August, the US president began publicly criticising Russia more frequently for refusing to move towards a settlement of the war in Ukraine.
Following his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump even stated that he believes in Ukraine's ability to reclaim the territories occupied by Russia.