T HE TIMING could not have been worse. Days before a crucial summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, scheduled for Friday, Russian forces broke through Ukraine’s defensive line. Near the breakout area at Dobropillia, just north of the Ukrainian stronghold of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, soldiers report panic and confusion.

"We talked about a ceasefire today. President Trump said this is one of his priorities in conversation with President Putin," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

In an ironic twist, President Donald Trump is set to discuss the war in Ukraine with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a military base in Alaska that was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the height of Cold War and still plays a role today.