(Berlin) European leaders will address Donald Trump on Wednesday, by videoconferencing, to try to convince him to defend the interests of Ukraine during his planned meeting with Vladimir Putin on the next day.
What to know
- Donald Trump will meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday;
- European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, talk to Donald Trump and JD Vance on Wednesday, in the hope of convincing them to defend Ukraine’s interests in front of Vladimir Putin;
- Donald Trump predicted “exchanges of territories”, while the Russian army occupies around 20 % of the Ukrainian territory;
- The Russian army carried out its widest advanced in 24 hours in Ukrainian territory for more than a year on Tuesday, according to an AFP data analysis.
They fear that the summit Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, does not lead to an unfavorable outcome to Ukraine, when the Russian army progressed in the country after three and a half years of conflict.
The Russian army carried out its widest advanced in 24 hours in Ukrainian territory for more than a year on Tuesday, while its progression has been accelerating for several weeks, according to AFP analysis of data provided by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Russian army pulled at least 49 drones and two ballistic missiles on Ukraine between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
At least three people were killed in Russian artillery and drone attacks in the Kherson (South) region early Wednesday, according to regional authorities.
Russia, for its part, claimed on Wednesday taking two localities, Nykanorivka and Souvorové, in eastern Ukraine, in a strategic sector where Moscow has carried out in recent days of rapid advances that augur a major breakthrough.
Diplomatic frenzy
Meanwhile, diplomatic activity has been in full swing since the announcement of the American-Russian summit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reported more than 30 exchanges and consultations with his allies in recent days, when Vladimir Putin has conversed with his closest partners: Chinese Xi Jinping, Indian Narendra Modi, Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva and North Korean Kim Jong-un.
On Wednesday, eyes are turned to Berlin, where German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance to talk by videoconference with Mr. Zelensky, but also the main European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The Ukrainian head of state made the trip to Berlin to participate in these meetings alongside the Chancellor, arriving at midday in the German capital.
PHOTO JOHN MACDOUGALL, VIA REUTERS
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz
After a bilateral interview, the two leaders will launch at 2 p.m. (8 a.m.) a first videoconferencing with their European counterparts, EU and NATO leaders.
Donald Trump and JD Vance must join the meeting around 3 p.m. (9 a.m. At its end, MM Zelensky and Merz will make a declaration. A final meeting of Kyiv supports will follow, grouped within the “coalition of voluntary countries”.
The discussions will focus on the means of “exerting pressure on Russia”, “the preparation of possible peace negotiations” and questions “relating to territorial claims and security guarantees”, according to Berlin.
It is “necessary to arrive as quickly as possible to a real and secure ceasefire”, prior to possible “real discussions and negotiations,” said a spokesman for the German government, Steffen Meyer on Wednesday.
An official of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexei Fadeïev, deemed “insignificant” the Europeans’ consultations with Washington, saying that the European Union “sabotes” the “diplomatic efforts of Washington and Moscow to resolve the Ukrainian crisis”.
«Tomperian» Pour Zeletsky
Photo Genya Savilov, Agency France-Presse
Residents discuss a damaged post office following a Russian strike in the city of Bilozerske, Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky was not invited to the top in Alaska. Before rallying Berlin on Wednesday, he called on his allies to counter any Russian “deception”.
“We must put pressure on Russia to obtain fair peace,” he said on Telegram, after having excluded any withdrawal in eastern Ukraine as part of a peace agreement.
Donald Trump predicted “territorial exchanges”, while the Russian army occupies around 20 % of the Ukrainian territory.
But he also remained vague on his expectations vis-à-vis Vladimir Putin on Friday. He said he wanted to “feel the ground” and judged “very respectful” on the part of his Russian counterpart to move to American territory.
On Tuesday, his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt put the challenges of the anchorage meeting a little more, calling him “listening exercise for the president”.
Donald Trump’s goal is to start from Alaska “with a better understanding of how we can end this war,” she said.
Moscow claims that Kyiv gives him four partially occupied regions (Donetsk, Louhansk, Zaporijjia and Kherson), in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014, and that she renounces Western arms deliveries and any membership in NATO.