European leaders urged more “pressure” on Russia overnight on Saturday, August 9, after the announcement of a Trump-Putin summit to end the war in Ukraine raised concern that an agreement would require Kyiv to cede swathes of territory.
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the far-north US state of Alaska, near Russia, on August 15 to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite multiple warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of the negotiations. Announcing the summit on Friday, Trump said that “there’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.
“Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,” Zelensky said on social media hours later. “Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing,” he said, adding that the war “cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine.”
He later urged allies to take “clear steps” in ending Moscow’s invasion during a telephone call with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday after Russia and the US agreed on a summit. “Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners. We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States and all our partners to end the war,” he said in a social media post.
European leaders issued a joint statement overnight Saturday to Sunday saying that “only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.” They welcomed Trump’s efforts, saying they were ready to help diplomatically − by maintaining support to Ukraine, as well as by upholding and imposing restrictive measures against Russia.
“The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” said the statement, signed by leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain, Finland and EU Commission chief Ursula Von Der Leyen, without giving more details. They also said a resolution “must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests,” including “the need for robust and credible security guarantees that enable Ukraine to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” “The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,” they said.
Later Saturday, in his evening address, Zelensky added: “There must be an honest end to this war, and it is up to Russia to end the war it started.”
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Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.
A ‘dignified peace’
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes. Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.
Zelensky said Kyiv was “ready for real decisions that can bring peace” but said it should be a “dignified peace,” without giving details. Ukraine’s leader has been pushing to make it a three-way summit and has frequently said meeting Putin is the only way to make progress towards peace.
The former KGB officer in power in Russia for over 25 years has also ruled out holding talks with Zelensky at this stage.
Far away from war
The summit in Alaska, which Russia sold to the United States in 1867, would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. This was just nine months before Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.
Zelensky said of the location that it is “very far away from this war, which is raging on our land, against our people.” The Kremlin said the choice was “logical” because the state close to the Arctic is on the border between the two countries, and this is where their “economic interests intersect.” Moscow has also invited Trump to pay a reciprocal visit to Russia later.
Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.
On Friday, Putin held a round of calls with allies, including Brazil, China and India, in a diplomatic flurry ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.
In a 40-minute phone conversation Saturday between Putin and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian leader reiterated his support for dialogue “and the pursuit of a peaceful solution,” his office said.
