European leaders said any diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday expressed gratitude to European leaders for supporting his demand to be included in upcoming talks between the United States and Russia about ending the 3½-year war. Kyiv fears the two powers could make decisions without Ukraine’s involvement.
Last Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska. For weeks, Trump had threatened new sanctions on Russia for failing to stop the conflict, but instead opted for a summit. A White House official said Trump was open to Zelenskiy attending, but the current plan was for a one-on-one meeting with Putin.
The Kremlin has rejected meeting Zelenskiy for now, with Putin saying the conditions were “still far” from being met. Trump also suggested that a possible peace deal could involve “swapping territories to the betterment of both sides.” This raised alarm in Kyiv, as Ukrainian leaders fear they could be pressured to give up land. Zelenskiy warned that any deal made without Ukraine would be “stillborn” and unworkable.
On Saturday, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, and the European Commission issued a joint statement saying any diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests. They insisted that “the path to peace cannot be decided without Ukraine” and called for “robust and credible security guarantees” to safeguard Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders.
Zelenskiy thanked them, saying, “The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations.”
A European official said Europe had made a counter-proposal to Trump’s plan but gave no details. Russian officials accused Europe of trying to undermine Trump’s peace efforts. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called European leaders “Euro-imbeciles” in a social media post.
Trump has not shared details about the territorial swap he mentioned. Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, controls about a fifth of Ukraine. It claims the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, but holds only about 70% of the last three. Russian forces also occupy areas in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions and recently claimed villages in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine controls a small part of Russia’s Kursk region.
Pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov suggested a swap could see Russia give Ukraine 1,500 square kilometers while taking 7,000 square kilometers—territory he claimed Russia would capture within six months anyway.
Also Read: Countdown to Alaska Summit: Zelenskyy Warns Russia Against Repeating Ukraine Partition
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