The timing of this summit and the recent Russian advances and Trump putting pressure on nations trading with Russia is hard to ignore.
Many will ignore it though.
Russia is still able to make gains in Ukraine but other countries are likely getting tired of this perpetual thorn in the side of global politics.
Those who ignore this meeting, should it come to pass, are just fucking idiots.
There's a reason Putin is now willing to come to the USA, his self-declared 'Main Enemy'. He and his country are hurting. More and more of his country is within range of Ukrainian drones, which more and more often get through. People in Sochi were rather shocked to see Ukrainian drones hitting their city. Add the ongoing casualties to that, add the economic problems to that, and now you have the average Russian starting to question Putin's ability to lead the country. This is a very bad thing for Putin.
Russia as a whole is by no means a developed country. Like China, get a fairly short ways outside the big cities and you are in the Third World. The Russian economy is an extractive economy, at the mercy of supply and demand for their resources. And Europe is in the latter stages of weaning itself off the Russian energy tit.
In my opinion, unless Putin tells President Trump, at a minimum, that he is willing to negotiate, very, very soon, in good faith with the Ukrainians to end this war he will leave with no relaxation of sanctions, nothing, just his dick in his hand.
Putin sees that the old Soviet 'correlation of forces' is no longer in his favor. We have revved up a lot of heretofore unused weapon-making capability and that stuff is starting to flow, to Ukraine and in due time to Europe. Putin also fucked up by spooking Europe, played right into President Trump's hands. Europe as a whole is now committed to improving their militaries, which will be shopping in the USA for weapons.
If this meeting happens, it will be interesting to see not just what is said, but what is not said. And we may have a surprise guest. Sports fans, I shit you not, anything can happen.