Despite the talks, there will be no lasting diplomatic resolution of the NATO-Russia conflict, which can only be ended on a progressive basis by an anti-war movement of the working class.

The talks on Friday in Alaska pull the Russian leader out of diplomatic isolation from the West, and Ukrainian and European leaders fear it gives him an opening to sway the American president.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky will watch from afar when the US president sits down with the Russian leader in Alaska later.