Ukraine war: Russia says US hasn’t delivered on Trump-Putin ‘understandings’

Russia has accused the ⁠US of failing to deliver on “understandings” reached between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska last August, a shift that suggests growing frustration in Moscow.

In the space of three days, three senior Russian officials have said, without providing specifics, that Washington has not followed through.

Their comments follow an intensification of Ukraine’s drone strikes deep inside Russia – including two attacks last week on a Moscow oil refinery – and a Group ‌of Seven summit at which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Trump and other Western leaders that Kyiv was turning the tide of the war.

Moscow rejects that, and has continued heavy attacks of its own.

Ever since Trump began trying last year to end the war in Ukraine, sometimes criticising Putin but more often blaming Zelensky for failing to reach a deal, the Kremlin has repeatedly expressed gratitude for his efforts.

Since the Alaska summit, it has often spoken of “the spirit of Anchorage” – shorthand, analysts say, for Russia’s contention that Trump is sympathetic to its central demand that Ukraine give up the ⁠whole of its Donbas region in return for a freezing of battle lines elsewhere.