President Trump, Ukrainian President Folodimir Zellinski and the leaders of many NATO countries held virtual meetings before Friday, scheduled Summit in Alaska Between Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Trump joined a call from the White House. In a post on social media before the meeting, he wrote: “He will talk to European leaders in a short period. They are wonderful people who want to see a deal.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Mirz held a series of virtual meetings in an attempt to obtain the voice of European and Ukrainian leaders before the Alaska summit, from which they were marginalized.
Zelenskyy joined Merz in Berlin, and met with European leaders earlier on Wednesday in preparation for the virtual invitation with Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance about an hour later.
“US President Trump will start discussions with President Putin in Alaska about the war situation, and important decisions can be reached,” Mirz, who stands alongside Zelinski, told reporters at a press conference after the meetings. “We, as Europeans do everything we can to help set the agenda of that meeting. We hope that Donald Trump will be a success in this meeting in Ancorag.”
Mirz said that he and Zelenskyy spoke to Mr. Trump together.
“In Alaska, the security interests of Europe and Ukraine must be protected. This is part of what we discussed with President Trump. We were together in the circumstances of this meeting and the goals of this meeting on Friday,” Mirz said.
The German leader said that Ukraine would need a seat on the table if peace will be reached in Ukraine, and that he told Mr. Trump that he would talk to him after his meeting with Alaska with Putin.
“We want to make sure the appropriate time sequence occurs: there is a ceasefire and that there is an agreement that was discussed after that,” he said. “A legal recognition of the Russian ownership of this region can not occur. There must be strong security guarantees. The sovereignty of Ukraine must be respected. Negotiations must be part of a larger strategy across the Atlantic, and it must be part of the pressure needed on Russia.”
“If there is no movement on the Russian side, we and the United States must put more pressure on Russia. President Trump knows this position and agreed to it largely, and we have a good conversation with each other,” Mirz added.
“Everything … needs discussion with Ukraine.”
Zelensky Merz thanks and said, “Everything is related to Ukraine to be discussed with Ukraine. We must be part of this conversation.” He said that Ukraine, before anything else, needed a ceasefire and security.
“President Trump is our support today, and the United States is ready to support us,” he said.
Zelinski also said that he told Mr. Trump and European leaders that “Putin relieves”, and that “Putin does not want peace. He wants to occupy our country, and we understand it. Putin cannot deceive us. We need to pressure him. Not only does he want sanctions from the United States, but from the European Union.
He urged the allies to keep up with the sanctions against Moscow, saying: “Sanctions and the increase in sanctions against Russia if they do not agree to a ceasefire – this is very effective and they are working.”
Regarding the Friday meeting in Alaska, Zelinski said he had discussed his priorities with Mr. Trump.
“We really hope that the immediate shooting will be one major issue during this meeting,” Zellinski said. “President Trump was talking about it. Then he suggested that he contact me as soon as he met Alaska. He would tell me about all the results, if there were any results, and then we will discuss our steps together.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Mirz pledged to help Ukraine to develop its long -range missile systems that will be free from any West restrictions on its use and targets as the Kiev government fights to repel it. Russia’s invasion.
Mr. Trump said he wants to see whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the war, and now in its fourth year, describing the Friday summit as a “feeling of feeling” where he can evaluate the intentions of the Russian leader.
However, Mr. Trump has been disappointed with the allies of the allies in Europe by saying that Ukraine would have to abandon some Russian lands. He also said that Russia should accept land bodies, although it is unclear what Putin might be surrendered.
The European allies have pushed Ukraine’s involvement in any peace talks, afraid that the discussions that exclude Kiev could prefer Moscow.
On Monday, Mr. Trump broadcast repeated opportunities to say that he would push Zelinski to participate in his discussions with Putin, and he refused Zelinski and his need to be part of an effort to search for peace. Mr. Trump said that after Friday’s summit, a meeting between Russian and Kurdish leaders can be arranged, or that it may also be a meeting with “Putin and Zellinski and me.”
Zelinski Beware of “talking about us, without us, will not work“
Ukrainian and European concerns
The Europeans and Ukraine warn that Putin, who launched the largest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia’s energy may try to intimidate the European Union, secure favorable concessions and determine the broad lines of a peace deal without it.
The extreme fear of many European countries is that Putin will put his opposite on one of them if he wins in Ukraine.
Zelinski said on Tuesday that Putin wants to withdraw Ukraine from the remaining 30 % from the Donetsk region that it still controls as part of the ceasefire deal, a suggestion that the leader categorically rejected.
Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine will not give up any region that it controls, saying that this will be unconstitutional and will only work as a starting point force for a future Russian invasion.
He said that the US -led diplomatic discussions focused on ending the war did not address the main Ukrainian demands, including security guarantees to prevent Russian aggression in the future, including Europe in negotiations and rehabilitation of Putin.
General Sir Richard Sherf, former deputy leader of the Allies in NATO, told the BBC News CBS news partner that he did not believe that Friday meeting between Mr. Trump and Putin may lead to the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“Russia must recognize Putin and have to realize that Zelinski is the president of Ukraine, and recognizes the Ukrainian constitution and the right of Ukraine to exist as a sovereign state. This will only happen … when Russia gets a bloody nose really.
Sherf said that the end of the war will require Ukraine to become a member of NATO.
“Even if Putin is moving or falling under a bus, it is possible that we get someone in his solid place, just as the national is, just as determined to continue (with Russia’s acquisition of Ukraine).” “So I think we must realize that European security means deterrence – a group of deterrent steel, as I said many times – from the Baltic to the Black Sea, with Ukraine as a member of NATO. Now, no matter how far, it may seem among us at the present time, this is the reality.
The Trump Putin Summit takes place at the Alaska military base
The summit between Mr. Trump and Putin will be the first personal meeting between Putin and an American president sitting since Russia has invaded Ukraine more than three years ago.
A senior White House official of CBS News said on Tuesday that the meeting will be held at the joint base Elmendorf-Richardson, on the northern edge of Anchorage. Given that it is a tourist season in Alaska, there were a few viable options to host conversations. Possible places to meet the high risk needed to meet security requirements.
White House press secretary Caroline Levit told reporters on Tuesday that the meeting mechanics “are still being touched.”
Levitte described the meeting as “a listening exercise for the president.”
“There will be one party involved in this war only, and so is that the president goes and gets, again, more severe and better for how we hope we will finish this war,” Levitte said.
“It is clear that Trump has not listened at all because it is very clear – and Putin still clarifies the matter – what is his demands, and the IOTA did not retract from his maximum demands,” said the former deputy allies in NATO. “And that, as we heard, is impossible for Ukraine to accept without surrender.”
Speaking to the correspondents in the White House briefing room on Monday, Mr. Trump expressed optimism that his meeting with Putin would be “constructive”, and he said that he was planning to create a personal meeting that includes Putin and Zelinski.
“The next meeting will be with Zelinski, Putin, Zelinski, Putin and I,” said Mr. Trump.
Two sources were informed of those negotiations CBS News on Tuesday that the United States is working on a site to attend the Trump -Potin -Zelinski meeting as soon as next weekend.
Haley Out contributed to this report.