The diplomatic framework that emerged from the August 2025 Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage has collapsed, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated after a 35-minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering in Manila on 23 July. “The proposals put forward in Anchorage failed. The Ukrainians did not agree to them,” Rubio told reporters, adding that Washington now needs “new ideas and new concepts” to end the war. His remarks mark the first explicit US acknowledgement that the so-called “spirit of Anchorage” — a set of understandings Moscow has consistently invoked — no longer serves as a viable basis for negotiations.

Moscow’s position, as conveyed by the Russian foreign ministry, remains anchored to that same framework. Lavrov “reaffirmed Russia’s readiness for a political-diplomatic settlement” and stressed Moscow’s commitment to the proposals discussed by Presidents Putin and Trump in Alaska. At the same time, he described the continued supply of weapons to Ukraine as “unacceptable” and accused European nations of pursuing a “strategic defeat” of Russia. Rubio, for his part, confirmed that US arms sales to Kyiv through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative would continue unchanged. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking separately after a call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, described the conversation as “important” and focused on “how to reinvigorate diplomacy and bring peace closer,” though no details of new proposals were disclosed.

The Anchorage formula, referred to by Rubio as “3 plus 2,” reportedly involved Russian demands for full control of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions, with partial claims over Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly rejected any territorial concessions, and Rubio noted that the military situation on the ground has made those terms “probably even less acceptable” to Kyiv now. The impasse persists against a backdrop of intensified hostilities: Russian airstrikes killed three civilians in eastern Ukraine on the day of the meeting, while Ukrainian drone strikes targeted Russian energy infrastructure, a campaign that former President Trump has publicly supported as a means to pressure Moscow.

Viewed from European capitals, the Manila encounter signals that the diplomatic track remains open but frozen. The Kremlin, through spokesman Dmitry Peskov, cautioned against “excessive optimism,” stating that “it would not be right to talk about any new trends or accelerated efforts.” Both sides confirmed that contacts with US envoys will continue, and Moscow expects Witkoff and Kushner to visit, though no date has been set. The dossier now enters a phase where Washington is seeking to formulate fresh proposals while managing the widening gap between Russian insistence on the Anchorage understandings and Ukraine’s refusal to cede territory. No new round of formal negotiations has been scheduled.