Europeans, which Mr. Trump also agreed to contact after his interview with the Russian president in Anchorage in Alaska, are trying to influence the American president by Friday. They fear that the summit does not lead to an unfavorable outcome to Ukraine after three and a half years of conflict.
The German chancellor Friedrich Merz therefore invited Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance to speak Wednesday with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as well as with the French, British, Italian, Polish and Finnish heads of state and government.
Their 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.
On Tuesday, the leaders of the EU countries-with the exception of Hungary-insisted on the need for Ukrainians to be able to “decide their future”, judging that substantial negotiations can only be held “in the context of a ceasefire or a reduction in hostilities”.
Vladimir Putin has conversed with many heads of state or government in recent days, including his closest partners: Chinese Xi Jinping, Indian Narendra Modi, Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva and North Korean Kim Jong Un.
Mr. Zelensky was not invited to the top in Alaska, where kyiv and Europeans fear that MM. Trump and Putin do not agree to compel Ukraine to yield portions of its territory.
Territorial exchanges
Donald Trump remained vague on his expectations of Vladimir Putin. He said he wanted to “feel the ground” and judged “very respectful” on the part of his Russian counterpart to move to American territory.
It was also said to have been “a little upset that Zelensky says ‘I must have a constitutional authorization'” to yield territories, because there will be exchanges of territories “, he predicted, while the Russian army occupies about 20 % of the Ukrainian territory.
Before his return to the White House, the American president had boasted of “being able to put an end to three years of Russian invasion in” 24 hours “. But his ambitions were showered by the failure of three talks of talks between kyiv and Moscow organized in Türkiye.
On the ground, the Russian troops have been ribbing ground for months. The Ukrainian army has recognized that they had carried out a breakthrough of several kilometers in recent days in a strategic sector in the Donetsk region, northeast of Pokrovsk.
Tuesday in kyiv, Mr. Zelensky said that Russia was not preparing “not to end the war”, but for “new offensives” in Ukraine.
He described the Trump-Puttine meeting “Personal Victory” for the Russian leader and excluded any withdrawal in eastern Ukraine as part of a peace agreement.
Moscow claims that kyiv gives him four partially occupied regions (Donetsk, Lougansk, Zaporijjia and Kherson), in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014, and that it renounces Western arms deliveries and any membership in NATO.
Unacceptable requirements for Ukraine, which requires withdrawal from Russian troops from its territory and Western security guarantees, including the continuation of arms deliveries and the deployment of a European contingent.
