HARARE, August 8. /TASS/. The upcoming meeting between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States marks the West’s surrender in the proxy-war it is waging against Russia in Ukraine, Rangarirai Shoko, CEO of Zimbabwe's New Ziana News Agency and expert in international relations, said in an interview with TASS.

"To me, the proposed meeting between President Putin and President Trump will be a sanitized capitulation of the West in its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine," he pointed out. "After hitting a brick wall with sanctions and tariffs, the West and Trump have realized they don't have any cards anymore to play against Russia and its BRICS partners, and are suing for peace with pretence of a compromised deal at the proposed Putin-Trump summit. The truth is Trump wants to walk away from the war, sanctions and tariffs with some dignity via the talks with Putin after realizing, rudely, that the West, and the US in particular, no longer have the strong hegemonic power to arm-twist the world," the analyst noted.

According to him, "the reality of the economic hopelessness the West has driven itself into, and its growing isolation as epitomized by the visit to Moscow this week by the King of Malaysia and the president of the UAE, has finally hit home." "It is clear Trump, through the talks with Putin, wants an off-ramp in the Ukraine conflict to extricate his country from the tight sanctions and tariff corner it put itself in, which now threaten its own survival," Shoko emphasized.

The analyst expects "Trump, on behalf of the West, to give in much - throw Ukraine under the bus if you will - and Putin to yield little because, unlike for the West, the conflict posed an existential threat to Russia."

"It is likely that the West will yield to Russia's main demand for recognition of the four former Ukrainian regions as its territories, which now for Russians does not go far enough. Apart from seeking to save face, the proposed talks may be a cunning way by the West to prevent Russia from achieving total military victory, and by so doing, hope to retain a foothold in what remains of Ukraine," Shoko concluded.