'Russia is far weaker than Putin is pretending - Ukraine and Europe must hold the line'

Vladimir Putin knows his future is on the line in Friday's crunch peace talks withDonald Trump in Alaska - and will be looking for some concessions he can present as a big win for Russia, fears a foreign policy expert.

The US President and Russian leader are due to meet in Anchorage on Friday to explore options for a potential ceasefire. It is a long-awaited summit that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has found himself frozen out of by both the White House and the Kremlin.

Russia launched a full scale invasion of the country on February 24 2022, sparking an international crisis and threatening to capture Kyiv in the opening days of the war. Ukraine, with strong backing from European allies and the US eventually halted the Kremlin forces' advance and managed to launch its own counter-offensive - even seizing a small piece of Russian land in return.

But since then the war has ground on well with front lines ebbing and flowing well past its three-year anniversary, with both sides suffering economically as well as sustaining brutal casualties.

Professor Anthony Glees, security expert from the University of Buckingham, told the Express that any discussion of "land swaps" between Trump and Putin without involving Ukraine was instantly doomed to failure.

He went on: "'Swapping land' means giving Putin a slice of Ukraine, a victory in other words. Ukraine could give back the Kursk enclave but it's small fry to Russia, they want the five territories they already control. The people of Ukraine won't wear this and the UK won't either.

"Yes, we want a ceasefire and yes we want the brave people of Ukraine to live out their lives in freedom and peace.

"But a free people can decide it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees."

And Prof Glees does not believe the US president is capable of strong arming Zelensky into a deal anymore. Ukraine's desire to fight, if it feels it needs to, could see war engulf Europe for decades longer.

He said: "Thanks to Ukraine now producing 40% of the arms it needs, with Europe supplying another 30%, with the largest army in Europe who are fighting with all they have, this war could go on for a hundred years, especially if the USA continues to supply air defences and intelligence.

"Ukraine is not lost, far from it, and it cannot be given away as long as Europe holds the line. Russia is far weaker than it pretends. Let's act accordingly."

For the world as a whole, then, the crunch talks between POTUS and the Kremlin's warmonger-in-chief in Alaska on Friday must not end in a secret backroom deal to sell Ukraine down the river.

"A peace which gives Putin anything he can present to his brainwashed people as a victory will be no peace at all, just a green light for further Russian aggression and subversion over the months and years to come," concludes Prof Glees.

"Zelensky would be killed, Russia would destroy Ukrainian democracy along with its sovereignty."