President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, to discuss the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

With no strategy of their own for ending the war, the continent’s leaders are anxious that President Trump will force Kyiv to accept terms that favor Russia too much.

In a few short hours in Alaska, Vladimir Putin managed to convince Donald Trump that a Ukraine ceasefire was not the way to go, stave off U.S. sanctions, and spectacularly shatter years of Western attempts to isolate the Russian president.

Ukraine and its European backers insist that the United States and Russia cannot decide on land swaps behind their backs at a summit this week in Alaska.