European leaders temporarily hope after the call with Trump before the Ukraine summit

European leaders seemed carefully optimistic after held a virtual meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, two days before meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss the end of the war in Ukraine.

Trump would have told Europeans that his goal for the summit was to get a ceasefire between Moscow and kyiv.

He also agreed that any territorial question should be decided with the involvement of Volodymyr Zelensky, and that security guarantees were to be part of the agreement, according to Emmanuel Macron of France.

Address Trump had allowed him to “clarify his intentions” and gave Europeans a chance “to express our expectations,” said Macron.

Trump and Vice-President JD Vance spoke to the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland as well as EU Ursula Von Der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte.

The Europeans were sidelined the summit in a hurry in Alaska and their telephone call today was a last attempt to maintain the interests of Ukraine and the security of the continent at the forefront of Trump’s mind.

To a certain extent, it seemed to work. Trump on Wednesday evening evaluated the meeting “a ten” and said that Russia would be confronted with “very serious” consequences unless it hides its war in Ukraine.

He also said that if Friday’s meeting had gone well, he would try to organize a “second second” involving both Putin and Zelensky.

However, in their statements, European leaders reaffirmed the need for kyiv to participate in any final decision-betraying an underlying nervousness that Putin could finally persuade Trump to concede Ukrainian land in exchange for a cease-fire.

“It is very important that Europe convinces Donald Trump that we cannot trust Russia,” said Donald Tusk, Poland, while the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed that the leaders had “clearly indicated that Ukraine should be at the table as soon as the follow -up meetings take place”.

If the Russian party refused to make concessions, “the United States and we, Europeans, should and must increase the pressure,” said Merz.

Since the announcement of the American Summit-Russia last week, Trump has made several references to “the exchange of land” between kyiv and Moscow-causing serious concerns in Ukraine and beyond, he could prepare to give in to the long-standing request of Putin to grasp large expanses of Ukrainian territory.

Wednesday morning, the spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexey Fadeev, reiterated that the position of Russia had not changed since Putin set it in June 2024.

At the time, Putin said that a cease-fire would start in the minute when the Ukrainian government withdrew from four regions partially occupied by Russia-Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He also said that Ukraine should officially abandon his efforts to join the NATO military alliance.

These are maximalist requirements that neither Kyiv nor his European partners consider viable.

Zelensky said he was convinced that Russia would use any region that she was authorized to keep as a springboard for future invasions.

A way to counter this threat could be security guarantees – intended for commitments to ensure the long -term defense of Ukraine.

In the statements published after the telephone call with Trump, several European leaders said that such guarantees had been mentioned and that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that “real progress” had been made in this regard.

Since spring, the United Kingdom and France have been spearhead to create a so-called “will of will”-a group of nations that have committed to dissuading Russia from Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the group said that it was “ready to play an active role”, in particular by deploying “a comfort force once hostilities have stopped” – although the form, the composition and the role of such a force are not yet clear.

Meanwhile, on the front line, the summer offensive of Russia continues to continue. By referring to the sudden advance of Moscow troops near Dobropilya, in the besieged Donetsk region, Zelensky said Putin claimed that the sanctions were not effective in damaging the Russian economy.

“I told Trump and our European allies that Putin Bluff,” said the Ukrainian president, exhorting them to “more pressure” on Russia.

For his part, Trump seemed to admit that even when he meets Putin face to face, he may not be able to stop killing civilians in Ukraine.

“I had this conversation with him … But I go home and I see that a rocket struck a nursing home or a building and people died on the street.

“So I guess the answer to this is probably not.”