Zelenskiy in Berlin for talks before Trump-Putin summit

Perth Now

2 days ago

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Berlin to join German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for talks with European and US leaders before a Trump-Putin summit.
Merz has convened a series of virtual meetings on Wednesday in an attempt to have the voice of European and Ukraine's leaders heard before a summit in Alaska later this week from which they have been sidelined.
Zelenskiy is due to meet with European leaders first, to prepare for a virtual call with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance about an hour later.
A call between leaders involved in the "coalition of the willing" countries prepared to help police any future peace agreement will take place last.
Trump has said he wants to see whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year.
Trump has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory.
He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.
The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia's energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favourable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.
European countries' overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said Tuesday that Putin wanted Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region that it still controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the leader categorically rejected.
Zelenskiy reiterated that Ukraine would not give up any territory it controls, saying that would be unconstitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.
He said diplomatic discussions led by the US focusing on ending the war have not addressed key Ukrainian demands, including security guarantees to prevent future Russian aggression and including Europe in negotiations.
Three weeks after Trump returned to office, his administration took the leverage of Ukraine's NATO membership off the table - something that Putin has demanded - and signalled that the EU and Ukraine must handle security in Europe now while America focuses its attention elsewhere.
Trump has also routinely threatened and cajoled his NATO allies over defence spending, and has shown little mercy in trade talks by hiking tariffs on most EU imports to five per cent, ostensibly for US national security reasons.
Senior EU officials believe that Trump might be satisfied with simply securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, and is probably more interested in broader US geostrategic interests and great power politics, aiming to ramp up business with Russia and rehabilitate Putin.