Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy received diplomatic backing from Europe and the NATO alliance on Sunday, ahead of the Alaska Summit talks between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to end the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Ukraine fears that the summit, scheduled for August 15, may be used by Trump and Putin to dictate the terms of a ceasefire to Kyiv.
“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,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday.
On the other hand, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told ABC News that Friday’s summit “will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end”.
“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,” Rutte added.
A White House official has said Trump is open to Zelensky attending the Alaska Summit, but preparations are underway for only a bilateral meeting. The Ukrainian leader has said that any decisions taken without Kyiv will be “stillborn” and unworkable.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, and the European Commission said any diplomatic solution must protect the security interests of Ukraine and Europe.
Is Russia ready for a Vladimir Putin- Volodymyr Zelensky meeting?
Russian President Vladimir Putin had indicated that he would not be meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky
In a statement last week, the Kremlin leader said that conditions for such an encounter were “unfortunately still far” from being met.
Russia continued its strikes in Ukraine on Sunday, injuring at least 12 in the country’s Zaporizhzhia region. The data was provided by Ukraine’s foreign affairs ministry.
Responding to the fresh strikes, Zelensky said, “That is why sanctions are needed, pressure is needed.”
Donald Trump has indicated that there would be some swapping of territory between Russia and Ukraine in the potential peace deal being discussed. But Ukrainian leadership has made it clear that they aren’t ready to surrender any land to Moscow. Zelensky said he won’t allow a second partition of his country after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Russia currently holds nearly a fifth of the territory of Ukraine.
US Vice President JD Vance said a negotiated settlement was unlikely to satisfy either side.
“Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it,” he said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
A European official said Europe had come up with a counter-proposal to Trump’s, but declined to provide details. Russian officials accused Europe of trying to thwart Trump’s efforts to end the war.
