Trump sets up Zelensky meeting as Putin renews land demands
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump will host Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Monday (Aug 18) after the former abandoned his push for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin again insisted that Kyiv give up land in peace talks.
Trump told the Zelensky and European leaders in a call that Putin wants Kyiv to cede control of the entire Donbas region in Ukraine’s east, renewing his longstanding demand, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition on anonymity.
They spoke as Trump flew back from Friday’s high-profile summit with Putin in Alaska, which failed to deliver a path to end the war, currently in its fourth year. Trump called his meeting productive, then signalled that he would tell Zelensky to make a deal, piling more pressure on the Ukrainian leader.
After the Alaska summit, several senior European diplomats expressed angst over the outcome, noting Putin appeared to have gained the most from the meeting. They pointed to Putin’s symbolic win for securing an invitation to the US and the Russian leader apparently prevailing on Trump to shift focus to an overarching peace settlement without seeking an immediate ceasefire.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have confirmed that they will join Zelensky for his meeting with Trump. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will join the talks as well, according to Sky.
Zelensky has repeatedly ruled out giving up all of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Moscow’s forces only partially control and have so far failed to take militarily. Russia would halt advancing its claims over the parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson region it doesn’t now control, effectively freezing the battle-lines there, the people said.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Saturday voiced his doubts about the Russian leader’s intentions about ending the war in Ukraine. “Putin has promised a lot so far, signed many agreements. I don’t believe it so easily. But at least, it’s the beginning of a conversation,” Merz said in an interview with RTL/ntv.
Trump told European leaders that he was prepared to contribute to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security as long as it didn’t involve Nato, they added. The president suggested Putin would be OK with that, the people said.
“Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace,” Zelensky said in a social media post after a call with Trump on Saturday. Trump confirmed the Ukrainian president’s visit to Washington in a Truth Social post, and said a meeting with Putin and Zelensky could be scheduled “if all works out”.
The US president said in the post that his meeting with Putin and the call with Zelensky both went “very well”. “It was determined by all” that the best way to end the war was to achieve a peace agreement and “not a mere Ceasefire Agreement”, he wrote.
The statement comes after Trump said previously that a ceasefire would be his key demand of Putin at the summit. He also threatened to walk out of the meeting and to impose new tough punitive measures if it wasn’t met. Trump signalled on Friday that he wasn’t in a rush to implement fresh penalties on Russia’s trading partners.
Uneasy relationship
Monday’s visit to the White House will be a pivotal moment for Zelensky, who’s had an uneasy relationship with Trump. His last visit to the Oval Office in February descended into a shouting match between the two leaders and briefly led to the US pausing military aid to Ukraine, which undercut the country’s fighting capabilities.
Trump and Zelensky have since met repeatedly, including at the Nato leaders summit in Hague and at the Vatican, and patched up their ties.
European officials welcomed Trump’s efforts during their call with the US president. They also reiterated the need for a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky in a statement released on Saturday. That statement made no mention of earlier demands for an immediate ceasefire as a first step towards negotiations.
The topic of a trilateral summit wasn’t raised in Alaska, Russia’s state TV channel Vesti reported on Saturday, citing Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.
European leaders also said that it will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. “International borders must not be changed by force,” according to the statement, signed by the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Finland, Poland, the UK and the president of the European Commission.
Some European officials are concerned that Trump will now pressure Zelensky to make territorial concessions to reach a deal, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
“President Trump’s resolve to get a peace deal is vital,” said European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. “But the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon.”
Putin continues to drag out negotiations and “left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing”, Kallas said.
Putin told his government on Saturday that the conversation with Trump in Alaska was “very frank and meaningful”, the Kremlin said on its website. “We, of course, respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a speedy end to military action,” he said. “We would also like this and would like to move to resolving all issues by peaceful means.”
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the Alaskan summit, Trump said that there were a few sticking points remaining after his discussion with Putin, even as he cautioned that the two hadn’t reached a deal, and shifted his focus to Zelensky, saying it was up to him to resolve the war.
“We are clear that Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “no limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries”, the statement from European leaders said. “Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and Nato.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Telegram on Saturday morning that Russia launched 85 drones and a ballistic missile at Ukrainian territory overnight, underscoring Moscow’s intention to press on with the war.
“We anticipate that in the coming days, the Russian army may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favourable political circumstances for talks with global actors,” Zelensky said on X.
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