OPINION: Trump vs Putin in Alaska: Face Down the Monster or Feed Him

Americans know Putin is a monster, and they know a partnership with Ukraine can stop that monster. History will remember whether Trump stood up to him or cowered.

Originally published at Kyiv Post on Aug 13, 2025

Bill Cole · Kyiv Post

In Alaska, Donald Trump will sit across the table from Vladimir Putin, a wanted war criminal, a terrorist in a suit, and one of the most dangerous men alive. This is not diplomacy. This is a high-stakes showdown between the President of the United States and a man who thrives on conquest, chaos, and human suffering.

Putin is not just another adversary. He has kidnapped more than 20,000 Ukrainian children, with many trafficked and sold across the globe. He has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his own soldiers and countless civilians in a war driven by his obsession with empire. He has no regard for human life, not for Ukrainians, not for his own people, not for anyone.

This is not someone the American public wants appeased. Our June Peace Through Strength Institute polling shows that Americans, across party lines, see Russia and Putin as the enemy. And it is not just Americans. The free world is united in wanting this man stopped, permanently.

Appeasement will not work. Giving Putin a little land is not a path to peace. It is an invitation to more war, more terror, and more instability. It tells the world’s worst actors that the United States will tolerate aggression if it is packaged with a handshake.

Donald Trump has a choice. He can put Putin in his place, or he can be remembered as the man who folded in front of a killer.

If Putin gets what he wants, every dictator with a drone army and a grievance will think they can take what they want.

Right now, as I write this, Putin is blasting Ukraine with missiles and swarming it with drones. Cities and frontline positions are under constant attack. This is not a distant conflict. This is a preview. If Putin is allowed to win, Europe will be next. And after Europe, America will face the same nightmare, sirens in the night, skies full of attack drones, citizens running for shelter. The front line will no longer be over there. It will be here.

Putin is holding the winning hand, daring Trump to fold. He has been playing this game for decades, and he is playing Trump too, dragging this out, mocking him, and using the time to tighten his grip on Ukraine.

This meeting is not about Alaska. It is about the credibility of the United States. It is about whether we still have the will to lead, to defend freedom, and to show the world that we do not bow to tyrants. If Trump goes in with strength, Reagan’s kind of strength, he can force Putin into a secondary position, secure Ukraine, and send a message to every would-be aggressor from Beijing to Tehran to Pyongyang.

Leaning into strength also means leaning into securing America’s future on the battlefield. By securing Ukraine, Trump would be securing a strategic partnership that can make the United States truly drone dominant. Trump is the president who signed the executive order to achieve drone dominance, and now is the time to make it real. Ukraine is producing and innovating at a pace unmatched anywhere in the world. Partnering with them will give us the technology, tactics, and battlefield experience we need to deter and defeat Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea in the wars of the future. Securing Ukraine means weakening Russia and China while putting America at the top of the global defense chain.

But if he walks out having given Putin what he wants, the consequences will be immediate and global. Ukraine will be crippled. China will accelerate its plans for Taiwan. US alliances will fracture. The BRICS nations will push harder to dethrone the dollar. And every dictator with a drone army and a grievance will think they can take what they want.

President Trump, you pride yourself on winning. This is your moment to win for America. If you want your legacy to be one of strength, this is the time to show it. Sit across from Putin and tell him, clearly and without compromise, get out of Ukraine or face the full weight of American power and its allies.

History will remember whether you stood up to the monster or fed him.

The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.