Last Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska left many of us wondering how we got to this point. Watching Putin step off his plane to F-35 jets and B-2 bombers flying overhead felt like witnessing America provide a military honor guard for someone who should be facing trial at The Hague, not receiving presidential treatment on American soil.

The whole spectacle felt deeply wrong from the start. Putin greeted Trump with “Good afternoon, dear neighbor,” using Alaska’s proximity to Russia as a way to suggest these two nations share some kind of natural partnership. That calculated move showed exactly how skilled Putin remains at turning any situation to his advantage, even when he’s the one who should be asking for mercy.

What made this gathering even more troubling was who wasn’t there. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the democratically elected leader of the country Putin has been systematically destroying for years, had no seat at this table. Ukraine, the victim of unprovoked aggression, was left to watch from the sidelines while their attacker got face time with the American president. This sent a clear message to the world about whose voice matters and whose suffering can be ignored when powerful men want to make deals that benefit them exclusively.

The absence of Ukraine’s president from these talks undermines everything Ukraine has fought for since February 2022. Zelenskyy has spent the past three years rallying international support, visiting capitals around the world, and making the case that Ukraine’s fight is really about defending democracy itself. Friday’s meeting in Alaska essentially told him that his country’s future can be decided without him in the room.

Putin walked away from Alaska with exactly what he wanted: legitimacy. The images of him standing next to the American president, the formal press conference, the careful diplomatic language all served to normalize his position as just another world leader with valid concerns and reasonable demands. This is a man whose forces have committed documented war crimes in countless Ukrainian cities and towns. Giving him this platform sends a dangerous signal that enough time and enough violence can eventually earn you a place back at the grown-ups’ table.

The international community watched this unfold with obvious horror and concern. European allies who have spent billions supporting Ukraine and accepting millions of refugees must be wondering what America’s priorities really are. When you elevate someone like Putin to the level of legitimate negotiating partner, you’re essentially telling every other authoritarian leader that aggression pays off if you can just outlast international condemnation.

None of this is to say that diplomacy itself is wrong. Finding ways to end the killing in Ukraine matters enormously, and talking is usually better than fighting. But there’s a difference between necessary diplomacy and giving someone a propaganda victory they don’t deserve. Putin didn’t earn his way back to respectability through good behavior or meaningful concessions. He’s sitting across from an American president again because he’s managed to make his war drag on long enough that some people have become tired of opposing him.

The timing makes this even more painful. Ukraine’s counteroffensive efforts continue to face serious challenges, and international support has shown signs of fatigue after more than three years of conflict. This was exactly the moment when Putin needed to see that his strategy of waiting out Western resolve wouldn’t work. Instead, he got photos with the American president and a chance to present himself as a reasonable leader seeking peace.

Looking ahead, the real test will be whether this meeting leads to any meaningful progress toward ending the war, or whether it simply gave Putin what he was really after all along: the restoration of his international standing. The fact that no concrete deal emerged from Alaska might actually be the best outcome we could have hoped for under the circumstances, but the damage to American credibility and Ukrainian morale may already be done.

What happens next matters enormously. Trump has announced that Zelenskyy will visit Washington on Monday, which at least gives Ukraine’s president a chance to make his case directly. But the sequencing tells its own story about priorities and respect. Putin got his meeting first, his photo opportunities, and his chance to set the narrative. Zelenskyy gets to respond afterward, already playing defense against whatever narrative Putin managed to establish in Alaska. The fact that other world leaders who have held strong in defending Ukraine will be in the meeting is the only hopeful aspect. Trump will be outnumbered by people who refuse to appease him.

This whole episode reveals something uncomfortable about how America approaches international leadership in 2025. When we treat war criminals like legitimate negotiating partners without demanding real accountability first, we’re not just making a mistake about one particular conflict. We’re setting a precedent that violence and patience can eventually buy you a ticket back to respectability, no matter what you’ve done along the way. This is the clearest sign of democracy dying in a country that has always been the gold standard of protecting it.