
Macron says Ukraine's future 'cannot be decided without Ukrainians' - War in Ukraine
'Europeans will also necessarily be part of the solution because their security is at stake,' Macron wrote on X after speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Announcing the summit on Friday, US President Donald Trump said 'there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both' Ukraine and Russia, without giving further details.
'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,' Zelensky said hours later. 'Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing. The war cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine.'
In calls with Starmer and Macron, Zelensky urged allies to take 'clear steps' towards a sustainable peace and warned that 'it is truly important that the Russians do not succeed in deceiving anyone again'.
National security advisers from Ukraine's allies — including the United States, EU nations and the UK — met in Britain on Saturday to coordinate their positions ahead of the planned Putin–Trump summit.
Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to yield results, and it remains unclear whether the summit will bring peace any closer, with both sides still far apart.
Zelensky said Kyiv was 'ready for real decisions that can bring peace' but stressed it must be a 'dignified peace'. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out talks with Zelensky at this stage.
The Ukrainian leader has been pressing for a three-way summit and maintains that meeting Putin directly is the only way to make progress.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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Mick Ryan, who tracks the Ukrainian conflict in his Futura Doctrina blog, said Sunday that 'Ukraine, more than anyone, understands that ceded territory would then be used as the launch pad for future Russian aggression.' The parallels with the Munich Agreement between British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler in 1938 are striking. Even after the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain said he had been assured by Hitler: 'This is the last territorial claim which I have to make in Europe.' Unknown: whether Putin will persist in his demand that Russia also be ceded control of two other Ukrainian regions – Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – whose regional capitals are still in Ukrainian hands. Or whether he would accept a freeze along the current frontlines in these regions, part of which run through open countryside and would be difficult to monitor. 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