Kuala Lampur, Aug. 17 -- The much-anticipated Alaska Summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed to deliver a breakthrough on Ukraine.

Instead of producing even a framework for dialogue, the summit reinforced entrenched positions.

Putin reiterated his long-standing demand that Ukraine withdraw from four partially occupied regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia - and abandon its aspirations of joining Nato.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, has categorically rejected such terms, arguing that ceding territory would only embolden Russia to strike again in the future, just as it did in 2022 after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Trump, usually known for hi...