“Severe consequences for Russia if Putin doesn't agree to a ceasefire.”

Truth Social post before the Alaska summit

Putin refused the ceasefire, and the consequences never came. The August 15, 2025 Alaska summit ended with no ceasefire and no deal, and Trump immediately announced he would hold off on any new sanctions, telling Fox News: "Because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that now."

Instead of punishing Russia, Trump dropped the ceasefire demand altogether. Within a day of the summit he shifted to seeking a "comprehensive peace agreement," mirroring Putin's own position, and reportedly backed Putin's proposal that Ukraine surrender territory it still held. The Washington Post called it a "dramatic ceasefire reversal." The threat was not empty for lack of options. As Fortune reported, 359 shadow-fleet tankers already sanctioned by the EU or UK remained untouched by U.S. sanctions; Brookings' Robin Brooks wrote that sanctioning them "would be a hammer blow to the Russian war machine." Foreign policy experts called the summit a success for Putin, who avoided any consequences while buying time for battlefield gains. Senator Chris Murphy summarized: "Putin got everything he wanted."

"Because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that now. I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about that right now." — Donald Trump, Fox News interview after the Alaska summit, August 15, 2025