Following the impressive images and optimistic statements by the two summits, the reality remains unchanged: the Russian-Ukraine war continues, with the only substantive change being that Donald Trump no longer calls for a ceasefire.

Trump gave Monday to Ukraine and its European allies a degree of coverage, assuring that the United States will be involved in shaping post -war security architecture. But these were then, as Politico notes in his article, which then wonders “and what guarantee there is that Trump will actually implement his vague assurances of America’s commitment?”

For the time being, the result of Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and NATO’s mini meeting in Washington is that Russia is no longer facing the single western demand for a ceasefire or the threat of additional US sanctions.

Trump’s defenders will say that this is only the beginning of the process, and that now Putin and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensk will meet before a tripartite meeting between the two opponents and Trump.

However, there is mistrust that even the first meeting will take place without the threat of further blow to the Russian economy. Without this pressure and the consequences that would arise from inaction, Putin, free from the pressure to cease fire, will continue the war and delay diplomatic processes.

Trump is used to setting dates and could issue another ultimatum, as he did in the summer, which will invite Putin to sit on the table for both meetings until September 15, otherwise Russia will suffer a wave of new sanctions.

And this time it will be the complete package of secondary sanctions with binding power, thanks to the Senator Lindsay Graham and Richard Blomedal, which is also aimed at Russia’s commercial partners.

This inter -party twin has been promoting his proposal for months, but Trump has not hidden that he prefers to chart foreign policy on his own, without defining Congress. Here, however, there is an opportunity to take advantage of the article one, even as a diplomatic lever.

The president may rely on domestic pressures for results after the summit, as Trump invited the opponent to American soil and literally laid him a red carpet. He may then declare that he will not prevent the Graham -Blomedal bill from reaching his office if Putin puts him in a difficult position refusing to sit at the table with Zelenski.

Russia may not be a model of democracy, but Putin understands internal political pressure. And Trump, who is well aware of the art of political directing, can convince both that both parties expect results after the political capital he spent on successive meetings.

After all, the president caused the rage of the “hawks” by pulling Putin out of international isolation, while stepping up the concern by telling Europeans that the US would participate in a future peacekeeping mission.

If summer gives way to autumn and not even a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenski has not even been planned, it will be clear that Trump was cheated. And it will be just as clear that his pressures were not enough.

Despite hearing a “open microphone” to French President Emmanuel Macron, Putin does not want to close an agreement for the sake of the US president.

However, it can be pressured and come closer to an agreement if the US president returns to the stance he had earlier in the summer and used the whip.

Perhaps the most honest statement heard in both Synods was that of German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, who on Monday interrupted the “anthem” to Trump to say: “I can’t imagine the next meeting will be without a cease.”

But if this does not exist, the next best way to force Putin to return to the negotiations is the one that has already proven effective and which he understands: power.