European leaders are scrambling to convince United States President Donald Trump to use his upcoming summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to amplify pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine on terms acceptable to Kyiv.
Trump, who has promised to end the three-year war, plans to meet Putin in Alaska on Friday, saying the parties are close to a deal that could resolve the conflict.
Trump recently told reporters that, “I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, ‘You’ve got to end this war. You’ve got to end it.’”
The US president said Kyiv and Moscow would both have to cede land in a compromise. “There’ll be some land swapping going on,” he said. Trump has, in the past, discussed the possibility of land swaps. However, neither Russia nor Ukraine have been interested in ceding land to each other as part of a peace agreement.
European leaders worry that major concessions to Russia could create security problems for the region in the future. On Wednesday, August 13, major European leaders are first convening among themselves and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and are then scheduled to speak to Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
Here’s what Europe and Ukraine request of Trump, as he prepares for the meeting with Putin;
Keep Ukraine in the room
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he would not be at the summit in Alaska, the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin with both in office since 2018.
But he said he hoped it would be followed by “a trilateral meeting” with Trump and Putin, though the Russian leader has so far said he is not willing to meet Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian president added that, “I believe that Trump represents the United States of America. He is acting as a mediator – he is in the middle, not on Russia’s side. Let him not be on our side but in the middle.”
On August 9, heads of state from France, Italy, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the European Commission issued a statement in support of Ukraine. “We underline our unwavering commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” they said, adding: “We continue to stand firmly alongside Ukraine.”
The statement also insisted that “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is convening a video call on Wednesday involving Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy and several European leaders to discuss Ukraine, has since doubled down on that message.
“We cannot accept that territorial issues between Russia and America are discussed or even decided over the heads of Europeans, over the heads of Ukrainians,” Merz said in a television interview on Sunday.
“I assume that the American government sees it the same way. That is why there is this close coordination,” he added.
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on August 10 that “the US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously”, but “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.”
Ceasefire first
Last week, Putin presented the Trump administration with a ceasefire proposal, demanding major territorial concessions from Kyiv in eastern Ukraine in exchange for an end to the fighting, according to European officials.
The offer, which Putin shared with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on August 6, set off a scramble to obtain further information. According to Zelenskyy, Putin has asked that Russia be handed over all of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a third of which Kyiv still holds.
But European leaders and Ukraine have responded with a counterproposal of their own, forwarded in a meeting with top US officials in Britain on Saturday. The European plan rejected Russia’s proposal to trade Donetsk for a ceasefire.
It also included demands that a ceasefire take place before any other steps are taken and insisted that territory can only be exchanged in a reciprocal manner.
Finally, the proposal stipulates that any territorial concessions made by Kyiv must be safeguarded by security guarantees, including potential NATO membership for Ukraine.
Ukraine, too, has long argued that a halt in fighting must precede any longer-term peace agreement. Russia on the other hand, has insisted on a larger peace settlement as a condition for a ceasefire.
What else has Zelenskyy said?
Last weekend, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv “will not give Russia any awards for what it has done,” and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier”.
Zelenskyy also pointed out that he doesn’t have the authority to sign off on land swaps. He said that changing Ukraine’s 1991 borders runs counter to the country’s constitution.
Elsewhere, Zelenskyy said in a video message posted to his social media account on Monday night that “he [Putin] is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war”.
“There is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation,” he said.
“On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations. If someone is preparing for peace, this is not what he does,” he added.
What else has Trump said?
On Monday, Trump criticised Zelenskyy over the Ukrainian leader’s resistance to ceding territory to Russia, saying he disagrees “very, very severely” with Zelenskyy.
“I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done. Very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump went on to say that “I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval.’ I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap – because there’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump said.
He added that the land swap will be “for the good of Ukraine,” before adding that a possible deal will also involve “some bad stuff for both” Kyiv and Moscow.
“So, it’s good and there’s bad, but it’s very complex, because you have lines that are very uneven, and there’ll be some swapping. There’ll be some changes in land,” Trump said.
“We’re going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin, and at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” he said.
“Ultimately, I’m going to put the two of them in a room. I’ll be there, or I won’t be there, and I think it’ll get solved,” Trump added.
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