Europe allies urge Trump not to face Putin ‘without Ukraine’

European allies have rallied behind Ukraine in an increase in renewed support, insisting that peace talks with Russia must include kyiv.

This comes when Donald Trump is preparing to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

“The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,” said a joint declaration published by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and the European Commission.

Concerned about the fact that Ukraine will not be invited to its own peace talks, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that any agreement without kyiv would represent “dead decisions”.

Late Saturday, a White House official said that Trump would be willing to hold a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelensky – but for the moment, only the two left, as the Russian chief initially asked.

Trump previously suggested that he could not start by meeting only with Putin, telling journalists that he planned to “start with Russia”. But the American president also said that he believed that “we have shot” to organize a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelensky.

It is not known if Putin would not be clear – the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have not encountered face to face since Putin launched a large -scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago.

Speaking on Friday, Trump also suggested that there will be an exchange of territories “for Moscow and kyiv to reach an agreement – to which Zelensky reacted strongly.

“We will not reward Russia for what it has perpetrated,” he said on Telegram. “All decisions against us, any decision without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace.”

“The Russians … always impose the idea of exchanging a Ukrainian territory for the Ukrainian territory, with consequences which only guarantee more practical positions for the Russians to resume war,” he added with challenge.

CBS, the BBC American media partner, reported that the White House is trying to illustrate the European allies to accept an agreement that would include Russia which would take the whole region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine and the maintenance of the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukraine and the European powers, on the other hand, presented their own plan for having ended the war in Trump and its senior officials, reported the Wall Street Journal. It includes the requirements that any territory can only be exchanged reciprocal – so if Ukraine withdraws from certain regions, Russia must withdraw from others.

European leaders, in their declaration published late Saturday evening, stressed that “international borders should not be modified by force”.

“Ukraine has freedom of choice in relation to its own destiny,” they said, stressing that their nations would continue to support Ukraine diplomatically, militarily and financially.

The leaders also said that a “diplomatic solution” was critical, not only to protect Ukraine – but also the security of Europe.

It is not only Ukraine that has trouble being part of the Alaska meeting.

European allies are also concerned about their lack of influence on the outcome of any agreement that Trump could reach Putin.

In an article on X on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron raised concerns about Russia and the United States excluding European involvement.

“Europeans will also necessarily be part of the solution, because their own security is at stake,” he wrote.

Europe has adopted a difficult approach to Moscow – in particular by imposing sanctions against Russian entities and providing military aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky said he told Macron during a phone call on Saturday that the key was to make sure that “the Russians could no longer deceive anyone”.

“We all need a real end to war and reliable security foundations for Ukraine and other European nations,” said the Ukrainian chief.

American diplomacy with Europe and Ukraine fell to Vice-President JD Vance on Saturday, during his visit to the United Kingdom and had interviews with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Lammy, as well as two of the best collaborators in Zelensky.

By thanking Vance for the discussions, Andriy Yermak, the head of the Zelensky office, underlined the need for the inclusion of Ukraine.

“Reliable and lasting peace is only possible with Ukraine at the negotiating table,” he said. “A ceasefire is necessary-but the front line is not a border.”

The Alaska summit, the territory that Russia sold in the United States in 1867 would be the first between the American and Russian presidents, since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.

Nine months later, Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.

In 2022, the Kremlin announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – although it does not have full control over them.

Moscow failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough in its large -scale invasion, but occupies large expanses of the eastern territory of Ukraine. Ukrainian offensives, on the other hand, could not repel the Russian forces.