Europe’s leaders have raised the pressure on Donald Trump to involve Ukraine in a planned summit with Vladimir Putin, as Germany warned the White House against any deal hatched “over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians”.
Speaking before a bilateral meeting expected to take place between the US and Russian leaders on Friday in Alaska, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he hoped and assumed that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would also be involved.
Merz told the broadcaster ARD that Berlin was working closely with Washington to try to ensure Zelenskyy’s attendance at the talks.
“We cannot accept in any case that territorial questions are discussed or even decided between Russia and America over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians,” he said. “I assume that the American government sees it the same way.”
Vladimir Putin (left) and Donald Trump are expected to meet in Alaska this Friday. Photograph: Ilya Pitalev/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty Images
The secretary general of Nato, Mark Rutte, said the summit would be about testing Putin on how serious he was about “bringing this terrible war to an end.”.
In pointed remarks, Rutte added: “It will be, of course, about security guarantees, but also about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides on its own future, that Ukraine has to be a sovereign nation, deciding on its own geopolitical future.”
Announcing there would be an emergency meeting of EU ministers for Monday, Brussel’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, echoed that sentiment.
“President Trump is right that Russia has to end its war against Ukraine. The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,” Kallas said.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said: ‘Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included.’ Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters
The US vice-president, JD Vance, speaking a day after meeting the UK foreign minister, David Lammy, during his holiday in England, said Washington was working towards talks between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump. But Vance said he did not think it would be productive for the Russian president to meet his Ukrainian counterpart before speaking with Trump.
“We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that, around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict,” he told Fox News.
As the diplomacy ramped up, there was no let-up in hostilities. Five people were killed in Russian shelling and drone attacks in Ukraine on Sunday, authorities said, while Russia said one person had been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in its southern Saratov region.
Five people were killed in Russian shelling and drone attacks in Ukraine on Sunday. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
On Saturday, two people died and 16 others were injured when a Russian drone hit a minibus in the suburbs of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, said the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. Two others died after a Russian drone struck their car in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to the regional governor.
On Saturday night, European leaders issued a coordinated statement that said the “path to peace” in Ukraine could not be decided without Kyiv. Welcoming Trump’s attempts to end the war, leaders from the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Finland, along with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasised that negotiations could only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities.
It added: “Only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.”
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On Sunday, Zelenskyy welcomed the support, saying on X: “The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations.
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“Ukraine values and fully supports the statement by President Macron, Prime Minister Meloni, Chancellor Merz, Prime Minister Tusk, Prime Minister Starmer, President Ursula von der Leyen, and President Stubb on peace for Ukraine.”
In a Telegram post on Saturday, Zelenskyy had said that any decisions made without Kyiv were “dead decisions” and “[would] never work”.
On Saturday, David Lammy hosted JD Vance, along with Ukrainian and European partners aimed at driving peace in Ukraine. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP
On the same day, at Chevening, a country mansion in Kent traditionally used by the foreign secretary, Lammy hosted Vance along with Ukrainian and European partners aimed at driving peace in Ukraine.
If the Trump-Putin summit goes ahead, it will be the first time a US president has met the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The last meeting Putin had with a US president was with Joe Biden in Geneva in June 2021.
Details of a potential deal have not been announced, but Trump said ending the war would involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both”, meaning Ukraine could be required to renounce significant parts of its territory.
Zelenskyy on Saturday stressed that Ukrainians would “not give up their land to occupiers”.
A European official confirmed a counterproposal was put forward by European representatives at the Chevening meeting but declined to provide details.
Friedrich Merz told ARD that Germany was working closely with the US to try to ensure Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attendance at the talks. Photograph: Nadja Wohlleben/Reuters
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the counterproposal included demands that a ceasefire must take place before any other steps were taken and that any territory exchange must be reciprocal, with firm security guarantees.
It was not clear what, if anything, had been agreed at Chevening, but Zelenskyy called the meeting constructive.
“All our arguments were heard,” he said in his evening address to Ukrainians. “The path to peace for Ukraine should be determined together and only together with Ukraine. This is [a] key principle.”
Merz said he hoped for a breakthrough at the summit, despite lingering uncertainty of the attenders. “We hope that there will be a breakthrough on Friday,” he said. “Above all [we hope] that there will finally be a ceasefire and that there can be peace negotiations in Ukraine.”