BERLIN: European leaders will maintain on-line talks with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Aug 13), hoping to persuade him to respect Ukraine’s pursuits when he discusses the battle with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in addition to the French, British and different European leaders and the heads of the EU and NATO to a day video convention.
They’re then anticipated to speak to Trump and Vice President JD Vance in a second spherical of the convention name.
The Trump-Putin meeting on Friday – their first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years in the past – is so far planned to go ahead without Zelenskyy.
This has fuelled fears Kyiv could possibly be pressured into painful concessions, together with over land.
EU leaders burdened on Tuesday “the inherent proper of Ukraine to decide on its personal future”, including that “worldwide borders should not be modified by power”.
Zelenskyy, chatting with reporters on Tuesday, dominated out withdrawing troops from the Donbas area which Moscow claims.
Merz’s workplace mentioned the convention name would talk about “additional choices to exert strain on Russia” and “preparation of attainable peace negotiations and associated problems with territorial claims and safety”.
The talks would come with leaders from “Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, the heads of the European Fee and Council, the secretary normal of NATO, in addition to the US president and his deputy”, Berlin mentioned on Monday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Merz are then additionally set to carry a spherical of talks of the so-called Coalition of the Prepared of Ukraine’s navy backers.
