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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy Arrived Wednesday In Berlin for a virtual summit with European officials and US President Donald Trump, summoned by the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
THE The call was served To bring together European leaders with Trump before the meeting scheduled for August 15 in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Those who were presented included Merz and the American president, as well as US vice-president JD Vance, Zelenskyy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, among others.
Here are the main points to remember:
What happened Wednesday?
The prospect that Trump alone meets with Putin left European leaders uncomfortable. Since the announcement of the Alaska summit, they have worked to secure Trump’s ear one last time and Wednesday, this effort has led to a series of high -level calls.
Around 12:00 p.m. GMT, European leaders and NATO members held a video conference with Zelenskyy. About an hour later, Trump and vice-president JD Vance joined the discussion.
Chancellor Merz and President Zelenskyy then published joint statements, followed by a separate address of Trump in Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Later in the day, the “volunteer coalition”, a group of 31 countries committed to strengthening the support of Ukraine against Russian aggression, met in a separate virtual session, publishing a declaration.
What were the main dishes to remember from all these discussions?
Here is a ventilation.
EU leaders:
After talks with other European leaders and Trump:
- Merz said European and Ukrainian security interests were to be respected at the Alaska summit on Friday. He stressed the importance that Ukraine has a seat at the table in all discussions on peace, with a cease-fire as an essential first step.
- “We have clearly indicated that Ukraine will be at the table as soon as there is a follow -up meeting,” Merz told Berlin to Berlin alongside Zelenskyy. “President Trump wants a cease-fire a priority,” he added.
- Any territorial exchange in Ukraine “should only be discussed with Ukraine,” French President Macron told journalists in Bregencon, France after the call.
- “Trump was very clear that the United States wants to get a cease-fire at this meeting in Alaska,” said Macron. “We must continue to support Ukraine, and when I say” we “, I mean Europeans and Americans,” he added.
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Ukraine needs credible security guarantees as part of any peace agreement, said a spokesperson for Prime Minister Starmer after the virtual summit. The support of the United Kingdom to Ukraine is “unshakable,” he added.
Zelenskyy statements:
- Zelenskyy, during the press conference with Merz, said that Putin “bluff” to be interested in peace. “Russia is trying to present itself as capable of occupying all of Ukraine. This is undoubtedly what they want,” said Zelenskyy.
- The Ukrainian leader has also warned that “talking about us, without us, will not work”.
- “Everything concerning Ukraine must be discussed exclusively with Ukraine. We must prepare a trilateral format for talks. There must be a cease-fire,” added Zelenskyy.
- He also said that “there must be security guarantees – truly reliable guarantees”.
- Among the agreed principles, Zelenskyy said, Russia should not be authorized to block the path of Ukraine to join the European Union or NATO, and that peace talks should go hand in hand with the maintenance of pressure on Russia.
- The Ukrainian chief also pointed out that sanctions should be reinforced if Russia does not accept a cease-fire during the Alaska summit. “These are effective principles. It is important that they work,” added Zelenskyy.
Thank you for your support! https://t.co/8gyunlwh
– Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@zelenskyyua) August 13, 2025
Trump press conference:
After the call, Trump spoke to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC:
- “We had a very good call. I would say that 10, very friendly,” said Trump. The American leader then discussed the next potential steps before Friday’s meeting.
- “There is a very good chance that we have a second meeting, which will be more productive than the first. Because the first is: I will know where we are and what we do,” he said.
- Trump also mentioned the possibility of a subsequent meeting “between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they liked to have it”, after the first meeting between him and Putin.
- Trump also said he was planning to call Zelenskyy and other European leaders after Friday discussions with Putin.
- The American president also said that there will be “very serious consequences” for Russia if Putin does not accept to end the war after Friday’s meeting.
- “Do you think you can convince him to stop targeting civilians in Ukraine?” A journalist asked Trump. “I had this conversation with him,” said Trump.
- “Then, I go home and I see that a rocket struck a nursing home or a rocket struck an apartment building and that people died in the street. So I guess the answer to this is no, because I had this conversation,” he added.
- However, he reaffirmed his intention to find a solution: “I want to end the war. It is Biden’s war, but I want to end it. I will be very proud to put an end to this war, as well as the other five wars that I finished,” he said, without explaining what other conflict he was referring. He claimed the credit for the ceases between India and Pakistan in May and Israel and Iran in June, and helped to mediate the pacts of Truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Trump also said on several occasions that he covets a Nobel Peace Prize and believes that he deserves one.
The coalition of volunteers:
The coalition published a statement Describing four key requirements which, they believe, should constitute the base of Friday talks.
- They said that “significant negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or a lasting and important cessation of hostilities”.
- Second, if Russia refuses a ceasefire in Alaska, sanctions and other economic measures should be intensified to submit its war economy more.
- Third, “international borders should not be modified by force”.
- Fourth, Ukraine should receive solid security guarantees, with the loans to help loans, including comfort strength after the end of hostilities. “No limitation should be imposed on the armed forces of Ukraine or on its cooperation with third countries,” the statement said. And Russia cannot oppose its veto to the path of Ukraine to the membership of the EU or NATO.
Will European intervention influence the top of Alaska?
We do not know, but analysts say that Wednesday calls show how Europe has managed to make sure that Trump cannot ignore the continent.
“Even if some commitments are given, we do not know what will happen once Putin and Trump is found in a room, ”told Al Jazeera Lucian Kim, principal analyst for Ukraine with the International Crisis group.
“Europeans have a lot of power and even more than they think themselves,” he said, adding that it was a “realization” so that European leaders attract Trump’s attention, and there is now a tone difference.
“It was not a fact when Trump put himself into office for the first time that he would listen to Europeans,” he said. Kim also noted that Europe had used its power and influence to put pressure on Russia during the war.
“Russia strongly depended on Europe, not from the United States, and this lack of trade harms Russia,” he said. “In addition, you have European banks that have hundreds of billions of dollars in active Russian government.”
“Trump realized that without Europeans, it will be very difficult to achieve a solution in Ukraine.”
What has Russia have said so far about any peace agreement?
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexey Fadeev told a press conference that Moscow’s position had remained unchanged since President Putin described it in June 2024.
At the time, Putin had declared that a cease-fire would take effect immediately if the Ukrainian government withdrew from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russia-Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia. He also insisted that Ukraine should officially abandon his attempt to join the NATO military alliance.
Russia currently controls approximately 19% of Ukraine, including all of Crimea and Luhansk, more than 70% of Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, as well as small parts of the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolav and Dnipropetrovsk.
