Ukraine updates: EU ministers to discuss Putin-Trump summit – DW – 08/11/2025
European Union foreign ministers are meeting via video link to discuss the upcoming summit that will see Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska later this week.
The EU has already expressed concern over the lack of Ukrainian presence in Alaska.
The United States is working to "schedule" a meeting between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin, according to Vice President JD Vance.EU foreign ministers on Monday are to discuss a Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meeting in Alaska later this week.
The ministers are set to meet via video link, with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha also planning to join.
Trump and Putin will meet on Friday, but the EU has insisted that Kyiv and European powers should be part of any arrangement to end the war that began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Over the weekend, European leaders pushed for Ukraine's involvement in the talks, amid fears that a meeting without Kyiv could see if forced to cede swaths of territory.
"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.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Sunday he hoped and assumed that Zelenskyy would attend the Alaska 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 Ukrainian involvement.
Talks on ending the war could only take place during a ceasefire, they added in a joint statement.
"The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine's and the whole of Europe's security," the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance said Washington is working on arranging a meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy.
"We're at a point now where we're trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict," Vance said during an interview on Fox News.
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Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said that seven Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russia's air defense systems overnight on Sunday and into Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry and a regional official said three people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes targeting the regions of Tula, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.
Welcome to DW's coverage of the latest developments in the Russian war on Ukraine.
European Union foreign ministers are set to hold talks via video link ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
The Europeans want to push for Ukraine's involvement in any peace talks with Russia.
Monday's meeting comes amid an apparent stance change by Trump toward Ukraine and Russia, with him threatening harsher sanctions against Russia if it doesn't agree to a ceasefire.
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