New Delhi, Aug. 16 -- President Donald Trump 's face-to-face high-stakes summit with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday could determine the fate of European security as well as the trajectory of the war in Ukraine. The exclusion of President Volodymyr Zelensky already deals a heavy blow to the West's policy of "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."

Speculation has intensified over which territories Russian President Vladimir Putin may seek to retain - and which, if any, he might be willing to relinquish. Reports suggest a proposal was quietly presented to US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow, involving a Ukrainian withdrawal from the remaining parts of Donetsk and Luhansk in exchange for a ceasefire.

The...