By Agence France-Presse
European leaders on Sunday pushed for Ukraine to be a part of negotiations between the United States and Russia, ahead of talks between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
The two leaders will meet in the U.S. state of Alaska on Friday to try to resolve the three-year war, but the European Union has insisted that Kyiv and European powers should be part of any deal to end the conflict.
The idea of a U.S.-Russia meeting without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has raised concerns that a deal would require Kyiv to cede swathes of territory, which the EU has rejected.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the talks in a meeting by video link on Monday, joined by their Ukrainian counterpart.
“The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,” leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain, and Finland and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement, urging Trump to put more pressure on Russia.
In a flurry of diplomacy, Zelenskyy held calls with 13 counterparts over three days including Kyiv’s main backers Germany, Britain, and France.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that he hoped and assumed that Zelenskyy would attend the leaders’ summit.
Leaders of the Nordic and Baltic countries—Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden—also said no decisions should be taken without Kyiv’s involvement.
Talks on ending the war could only take place during a ceasefire, they added in a joint statement.
Asked on CNN on Sunday if Zelenskyy could be present, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker responded: “Yes, I certainly think it’s possible.”
“Certainly, there can’t be a deal that everybody that’s involved in it doesn’t agree to. And, I mean, obviously, it’s a high priority to get this war to end.”
Whitaker said the decision would ultimately be Trump’s to make, and there was no word on Sunday from the White House.
‘Testing Putin’
Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said any deal between the United States and Russia to end the war in Ukraine had to include Kyiv and the bloc.
“President Trump is right that Russia has to end its war against Ukraine,” Kallas said in a statement on Sunday.
“The U.S. has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the U.S. and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security. I will convene an extraordinary meeting of the EU foreign ministers on Monday to discuss our next steps,” she added.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga will also take part in the Monday afternoon meeting, the ministry said.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Mark Rutte told ABC’s “This Week” broadcast on Sunday that Trump was “putting pressure on Putin.”
“Next Friday will be important because it will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end,” he added.
Ukraine’s military said on Sunday it had taken back a village in the Sumy region from the Russian army, which has made significant recent gains.
The village is on the frontline, in the north of the country and about 20 kilometers (13 miles) west of the main fighting between the two armies in the northern region.
A ‘just peace’
As a prerequisite to any peace settlement, Moscow has demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of the regions and commit to being a neutral state, shun U.S. and EU military support and be excluded from joining NATO.
Kyiv said it would never recognize Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.
The EU’s Kallas backed Kyiv’s position on Sunday.
“As we work towards a sustainable and just peace, international law is clear: All temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine,” the EU foreign policy chief said.
NATO’s Rutte said it was a reality that “Russia is controlling some of Ukrainian territory” and suggested a future deal could acknowledge this.
“When it comes to acknowledging, for example, maybe in a future deal, that Russia is controlling, de facto, factually, some of the territory of Ukraine. It has to be effectual recognition and not a political de jure recognition,” Rutte told ABC.
Zelenskyy thanked those countries backing Ukraine’s position in his Sunday evening address, “The war must be ended as soon as possible with a fair peace. A fair peace is needed.
“Clear support for the fact that everything concerning Ukraine must be decided with Ukraine’s participation. Just as it should be with every other independent state,” he concluded.
