After a joint virtual meeting with US President Donald Trump, European leaders are looking forward to a summit in Alaska with cautious optimism, the BBC reports.
Trump reportedly told the Europeans that the goal of the talks was to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine. According to French President Emmanuel Macron, he also agreed that any issues affecting Ukrainian territory should be discussed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Macron said the talks with the US president had allowed them to clarify Trump’s plans and express Europe’s views.
Trump and US Vice President JD Vance spoke with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland, as well as with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
European countries have not been invited to the hastily arranged US-Russia meeting in Anchorage on the 15th of August, and the virtual conference was a last-minute attempt to secure Ukraine’s interests and the security of the entire continent. It appeared to have worked, and Trump said after the call that it had been excellent and that Russia would face “very serious consequences” if it did not end the war in Ukraine. The US president also added that if the talks with Putin were successful, he could try to quickly arrange another meeting, which would also include Volodymyr Zelensky.
Europe has stressed that Kiev must be involved in any decision-making.
There are concerns that Putin could persuade Trump that Ukraine should return the occupied territories to Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Europe must convince Trump that Russia cannot be trusted. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz added that it had been made clear that Ukraine must be at the negotiating table as soon as the next talks are held.
Since the US-Russia meeting was announced, Trump has repeatedly mentioned the possibility of returning the territories to Russia, which has raised concerns in Ukraine and other countries that Trump might give in to Putin’s demands. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Fadeev reiterated on the 13th of August that Russia’s position has not changed since 2014. Putin has said that the ceasefire will happen when Ukraine withdraws its forces from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and formally abandons its plan to join NATO. These are demands that neither Kyiv nor Europe consider feasible. Zelensky is convinced that Russia can use the region to prepare for further attacks.
Britain and France have been trying since the spring to form a coalition of countries that would prevent Russia from further encroaching on Ukrainian territory.
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