Zelensky and Putin simultaneously called Trump on the eve of the G7 summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced almost simultaneously that their respective leaders had held phone calls with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Both calls concerned the settlement of the war, but the parties are pursuing opposing goals.

Based on the outcome of Zelensky’s call, it can be concluded that the Ukrainian president is advancing the Europeans’ plan: to convince Trump at the G7 summit that Russia’s situation on the front is so dire that the American president has no reason to stick to the “Anchorage agreements” with Putin. The idea is to abandon pressure on Kyiv to withdraw troops from Donbas, and instead support European terms for ending the war, tighten pressure on Russia, and increase support for Ukraine across all fronts.

Ushakov’s comments suggest the opposite: Putin sought to ensure Trump did not forget the “spirit of Anchorage.” Ushakov stated that Trump promised to exert influence on the Europeans and Kyiv — presumably in terms of encouraging them to implement the Alaska agreements, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas.

Also working to preserve the “Anchorage course” is the announced visit to Moscow by U.S. presidential special envoys Jared Kushner and Steven Witkoff, which came after the call. This visit may give Trump a reason not to make any sharp course-change decisions at the G7 summit, even if Kyiv and Europe push him to do so: the American president will be able to cite the need to await the results of Witkoff and Kushner’s talks in Moscow.

Despite widespread skepticism toward the “spirit of Anchorage,” it has not yet lost its significance entirely. As long as Trump has not publicly renounced the Alaska agreements, there remains a possibility that at some point he will begin pressing Kyiv and Europe to fulfill them. That probability looks small right now, and if the Republicans lose the congressional elections, it will become even smaller.

At the same time, the very continuation of Putin’s dialogue with Trump “in the spirit of Anchorage” keeps the American president from taking tough action against Moscow and from pivoting back to resuming financial and military aid to Kyiv. At present, the Americans are selling weapons to Ukraine only for money.

The Europeans and Zelensky will apparently make every effort to push Trump to forget the “Anchorage spirit” and return to large-scale support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia. How this clash of positions ends will become clear from the results of the G7 summit over the next couple of days.