Sentiment toward Russia in Alaska has cooled since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Anchorage Assembly voted unanimously to suspend its three-decade-long sister city relationship with Magadan, Russia, and the Juneau Assembly sent its sister city of Vladivostok a letter expressing concern.

T HE TIMING could not have been worse. Days before a crucial summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, scheduled for Friday, Russian forces broke through Ukraine’s defensive line. Near the breakout area at Dobropillia, just north of the Ukrainian stronghold of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, soldiers report panic and confusion.

Whether the U.S.-Russia summit can lead to a deal to produce peace in Ukraine more than 3 1/2 years after Moscow’s invasion remains to be seen.