Christopher Ford argues this is the collapse of the ‘pivot’ towards Ukraine and the consolidation of the Trump–Putin Axis.

Two weeks ago, Washington signalled a hard turn against Moscow.  President Trump’s public outrage at Russia’s killing of Ukrainian civilians was so intense he claimed to have ordered two US nuclear submarines closer to Russian waters —accompanied by promises of harsh new sanctions. Commentators billed it as a ‘pivot’ toward Ukraine.

The pivot was a sham; it never happened.

Trump moved to replace direct aid to Ukraine with a business arrangement in which European governments pay the full cost of weapons – notably air defence. It was a grotesque spectacle of Trump profiteering from Ukraine’s vulnerability – which he helped manufacture. There was no major surge of military aid even through sales to Europe to give to Ukraine.

Trump’s threat of “severe tariffs” on Russia and its oil customers ultimately materialised only as tariffs on India, sparing China, Turkey, and others — a move widely seen in Asia as about trade relations rather than support for Ukraine. In July, he set a 2nd September deadline for Russian progress toward peace, shifting it to 7th–9th August , before abruptly replacing talk of severe consequences with talk of which Ukrainian territories should be ceded to Russia.

The deadline passed without consequence; instead, Trump sent special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow on 6th August, where Putin offered no concessions and repeated maximalist annexation demands — a meeting Trump hailed as “great progress.” The next day, the Alaska summit was announced, and in the lead‑up Trump repeatedly asserted that Ukraine would need to surrender territory to reach a deal.

On the eve of the Alaska summit, Russia again struck Ukraine with 85 Shahed drones and an Iskander missile, killing civilians and wrecking infrastructure. On the front lines, its forces continued their offensives, with no new US sanctions, keeping the war machine running.

Against this backdrop, the summit produced four clear outcomes — all to Moscow’s benefit and all to Ukraine’s detriment:

1. Normalisation of relations with Russia

The red‑carpet welcome, warm personal exchanges and Trump’s public praise marked a new stage in rehabilitating Vladimir Putin internationally. Both men hailed the talks as “extremely productive” and “very warm.” Putin invited Trump to Moscow for the next round.

2. Sanctions Off the Table

Measures once billed as inevitable have vanished. In a post‑summit Fox News interview, Trump confirmed that “because of what happened today,” punitive action was no longer under consideration. US leverage evaporated in a single afternoon.

3. Pressure on Ukraine to Surrender Territory

Trump admitted in the same interview to Sean Hannity (Fox News) that he and Putin had “largely agreed” on land‑swap terms, leaving it to Kyiv to accept or refuse. This reframes the aggressor’s demands as Ukraine’s responsibility, shifting blame for any failure to secure peace to Ukraine and rewarding Russia’s invasion.

4. Ceasefire no longer required

The immediate ceasefire which Trump demanded Ukraine agree to under coercion that cost many lives, with no reciprocal pressure at all on Putin – has been abandoned. Now Trump has adopted entirely the Russian position for a so-called permanent peace agreement.

In substance and symbolism, Alaska was not a step toward restraining Russian aggression — it was a step toward accommodating it. The supposed pivot to Ukraine has dissolved into a deeper reproachment with Russia.

Any new sanctions meant to punish Russia’s war of conquest are gone, justice for war crimes are gone, and the burden of ending the war has been transferred from the perpetrator to the victim.

For all Washington’s own hypocrisy and its chequered history of adherence to the post‑war legal order it helped create at Nuremberg, hosting Putin — a wanted war criminal — marks a new low.  Let us remember that Putin is wanted for the abduction of thousands of children from Russian‑occupied areas of Ukraine into the Russian Federation. 

The summit handed the Kremlin a victory, and replayed the 1930s appeasement script that rewarded aggression and emboldened rising authoritarians. It is arguable that the post‑war international order is effectively over, with a collapse of its core principles and weakening of institutions in the face of rising authoritarianism and unchecked aggression.

This is the Trump–Putin Axis of Reaction in action: a strategic realignment that normalises an indicted war criminal, dismantles pressure against his regime, and demands Ukraine pay the price for a ‘peace’ that entrenches Russian occupation.

European leaders have praised Trump and the Alaska summit, Keir Starmer saying that Trump’s “leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.” This accommodating of Trumpist reaction plays into his hands — bolstering the fake image he wants to project while camouflaging his actual assistance to Kremlin goals. Casting him as a credible peacemaker despite his readiness to normalise relations with Putin without real concessions, legitimises Trump in undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty and emboldens Russia. It also weakens the labour movement and those defending democracy in the USA itself.

There is an alternative to betrayal.

For an entire year we were told the city of Pokrovsk in the Donbas region would fall to Russia – a year on, despite being starved of aid, Ukraine still holds the city. This and other towns and cities must not be handed over to Russian occupation. The Ukrainian resilience should prove that there is potential for an alternative to betrayal if the actual aid Ukraine needs to secure a just peace was provided.

There is an alternative, one the labour movement needs to assert as set out in the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign’s vision of Another Ukraine is Possible – Free From Occupation. The labour and trade union movement, and civil society and the Labour Government must reject any settlement legitimising Russia’s occupation, and rally military, financial, and diplomatic support. This means boosting arms supplies, seizing Russian assets, cancelling Ukraine’s debt and enforcing tougher sanctions. International justice must prosecute war crimes and secure a return of the abducted children.

The path forward should be not in appeasing the new authoritarians but in supporting a democratic and united Ukraine – one free from oligarchs and occupiers.  That means resisting territorial conquest and standing with those in Ukraine fighting for social justice, equality, and self‑determination — a future built on solidarity, not surrender to new forms of fascism.

Christopher Ford is Secretary of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, on whose site this article first appeared.