Anastasia Gorbacheva10:02, 26.08.25

Trump and his national security team continue to interact with Russian and Ukrainian officials.

During talks this month aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine, U.S. and Russian officials discussed several energy deals, seeking to incentivize Moscow to end the war in Ukraine and Washington to ease sanctions.

Reuters , citing its sources, reports that officials discussed the possibility of Exxon Mobil returning to Russia’s Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project. In addition, the question of whether Russia could purchase American equipment for LNG production projects, such as Arctic LNG 2, which is under Western sanctions, was raised.

Another idea was for the US to purchase nuclear icebreakers from Russia.

The talks took place during a visit by US Ambassador Steve Witkoff to Moscow in early August, when he met with Vladimir Putin and his investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev. They were also discussed at the White House with US President Donald Trump. The deals were also briefly discussed at a summit in Alaska on August 15.

“The White House really wanted to make headlines after the Alaska summit by announcing a big investment deal. That way Trump feels like he’s achieved something,” one source said.

Trump and his national security team continue to engage with Russian and Ukrainian officials with the goal of holding a bilateral meeting to end the war, a White House spokesman said in response to questions about the agreements.

Summit in Alaska – what is offered to Ukraine

Western partners are discussing security guarantees for Ukraine “like NATO.” However, they will not include a direct commitment from European countries to defend Ukraine.

According to US media, the US will play only a “minimal” role in providing security guarantees for Ukraine. At the same time, Trump has publicly ruled out the possibility of deploying US troops on Ukrainian territory, but has suggested supporting the peacekeeping mission with air power.

(c)UNIAN 2025