In the year since Donald Trump hosted Vladimir Putin on US soil for a summit designed to broker an end to Russia’s offensive on Ukraine, the diplomatic initiative has fizzled out and the conflict has escalated. For months, Russian officials talked up the “spirit of Anchorage” – a supposed climate of detente, renewed dialogue with Washington and a framework for finding a way out of the deadliest European conflict since World War II.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Now there are few traces of that atmosphere. US mediation efforts are at a standstill, both Russia and Ukraine are ramping up attacks and more civilians are being killed than at any point since the first months of the war. ‘Ending the war’ On August 15, 2025, Trump broke with the West’s policy of isolating Putin, rolling out the red carpet as the Kremlin chief stepped off his plane at the Elmendorf-Richardson air base in Alaska. It remains unclear what was decided or discussed behind closed doors. Russia has always maintained some kind of understanding on a peace deal was struck – “a compromise proposal”, as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called it. Washington has rebuffed any talk of a deal being reached. “There was a proposal in Alaska, but there was no agreement. If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end of the war,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in June. Moscow had hoped the summit would lay the foundations for a “lasting peace” by addressing what it calls the “root causes” of the conflict, said political analyst Sergei Markov – designated a “foreign agent” but still close to the Russian authorities.