Kuala Lampur, Aug. 14 -- When Donald Trump meets Vladimir Putin in Alaska this August, expectations of a signed ceasefire agreement in the Russia-Ukraine war will likely prove misplaced. The obstacles are structural, not personal, and the political theatre of the summit cannot disguise the fact that the fundamental parties are not aligned - starting with the absence of Ukraine as a formal participant in the talks.

Without Kyiv's direct involvement, no arrangement to transform roughly one-quarter of Ukraine's eastern territories into a so-called "safe buffer zone" can hold.

This is not a neutral security measure; it is a geopolitical carve-out that Moscow might see as a fait accompli, but which Kyiv would treat as illegitimate.

The fact...