Ukraine updates: Allies consider future Zelensky–Putin talks – DW – 08/19/2025

DW

15 hours ago

After meeting with President Trump, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated he was ready to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz emphasized the need for thorough preparations.
The coalition of the willing, including Germany, France and the UK, was meeting to discuss the outcome of the White House talks
US President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Washington to push for an end to the war in Ukraine
Trump said he had called Russian President Vladimir Putin to arrange direct talks with Zelenskyy
Trump said the US and Europe would help assure Ukraine's security in a peace deal
Zelenskyy called talks a "truly a significant step toward ending the war" as well as ensuring security guarantees for UkraineFriedrich Merz will participate in a video conference of the coalition of the willing on Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said.
After the meeting, he will also join a video conference hosted by European Council President Antonio Costa.
Earlier, Chancellor Merz said a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents concerns all of Europe.
Merz said thorough preparations were needed ahead of a possible meeting between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy.
"In my view, it would be desirable, and more than that, if this meeting finally leads to a ceasefire in Ukraine," Merz said.
He stressed that Ukraine should not be pressured into ceding any territory
Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, said it was unclear if President Putin would "engage in talks or play for time."
His remarks came after President Trump met President Zelenskyy, as well as several key European leaders, at the White House on Monday.
Putin has agreed to face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy to discuss a peace deal in Ukraine, according to Trump. The Kremlin has not confirmed the meeting.
Moscow's previous strategy was to delay negotiations with "long discussions" while simultaneously attacking Ukraine "every day with bombs and missiles," Makeiev told German public broadcaster ZDF's Morgenmagazin.
He welcomed the show of unity at the Ukraine summit in Washington, while stressing that territorial concessions to Russia are not an option for Kyiv.
"This is not just about territory. It's not a computer game where you can simply hand over a piece of territory and keep playing with a mouse click," Makeiev said. "Millions and millions of Ukrainians live there."
Only a few days ago, President Trump shook hands with President Putin in Alaska.
Now, after meeting President Zelenskyy and other European leaders in the White House, he is making arrangements for the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to sit down face-to-face. DW's Mark Corrigan reports.
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European leaders who make up the "coalition of the willing" are set to hold a conference call on Tuesday on the outcome of the White House meeting on Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the meeting was to "keep them up to date on what was decided" in Washington.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who also attended Monday's meeting where President Trump said he would broker a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents and that he would back European security guarantees, said work on that would start immediately.
The British leader said the coalition of the willing "will now work with the US" on security guarantees.
"That's really important for security in Ukraine, for security in Europe, and for security in the UK," Starmer said.
According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's spokesperson, the coalition of the willing meeting will be at 10:00 UTC/GMT, followed by a meeting of the European Council at 11:00.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed Geneva could host a peace summit between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy.
"It will be (hosted by) a neutral country, maybe Switzerland, I'm pushing for Geneva, or another country," Macron said in an interview aired Tuesday on French news channel LCI.
After meeting Zelenskyy, NATO and the European leaders on Monday, Trump called Putin to discuss direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
While the Kremlin has not publicly reacted, a senior US administration official said the Putin-Zelenskyy meeting could take place in Hungary.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) court issued a warrant for his Putin's arrest in 2023 for the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
As a member of the ICC, Switzerland would be expected to detain Putin, although this obligation has been ignored by other ICC members during international conferences.
Hungary formally quit the ICC earlier this year after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also wanted by the court.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has kept close ties to the Kremlin following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, a loyal Putin supporter and Kremlin provocateur on social media, said European leaders had "failed to outplay" President Trump.
"The anti-Russian warmongering Coalition of the Willing failed to outplay @POTUS on his turf," Medvedev wrote in English on X.
"Europe thanked & sucked up to him."
He also questioned "what tune" President Zelenskyy would play "about guarantees & territories" when he is back in Ukraine.
Trump told Zelenskyy on Monday that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there.
Zelenskyy had said those plans would be "formalized in some way in the next week or 10 days."
Ukraine's air force reported that Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles overnight in one of its largest attacks this month.
The air force said it downed 230 of the drones and six of the missiles.
Meanwhile, a fire at Lukoil's oil refinery in Russia's Volgograd southern region has been extinguished, Interfax news agency reported.
Local officials said that debris from a Ukrainian drone started the fire.
An overnight Russian missile strike has hit the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, knocking out power to hundreds of homes and businesses in the Poltava region.
Officials say the attack damaged key infrastructure and caused multiple explosions. No casualties have been reported.
"At the very same time when Putin was assuring Trump over the phone that he seeks peace, and when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was holding talks at the White House with European leaders about a just peace, Putin's army launched yet another massive attack on Kremenchuk," Vitalii Maletskyi, mayor of the city that lies in the Poltava region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
"Once again, the world has seen that Putin does not want peace, he wants to destroy Ukraine," Maletskyi added.
Meanwhile, a drone attack on Ukraine's Chernihiv region damaged infrastructure, with power cuts reported in parts of the northern region, the regional governor said.
"Some settlements are experiencing problems with electricity supply. Energy workers and rescuers are already working on restoration," Governor Viacheslav Chaus wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says talks between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin must begin with a ceasefire.
"Someone needs to make a move and that someone is President Putin," Wadephul said during a visit to a US naval base in Japan.
He said Ukraine needs to "think very carefully" about the type of negotiations and the desired outcome.
Wadephul emphasized that lasting peace will require strong security guarantees for Ukraine, with both Germany and the United States ready to support them.
However, he said, Putin must first be willing to "negotiate in a truly substantive manner and, above all, to agree to a ceasefire."
Wadephul added that any German involvement would need parliamentary approval.
He called the moment a rare opportunity to end the war in Ukraine and said every effort must be made to seize it.
Joining US President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the East Room of the White House, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed the importance of a ceasefire in Ukraine, while French President Emmanuel Macron talked about the need for security guarantees. DW's Richard Walker analyzes the messages European leaders brought to the negotiation table.
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President Trump has pledged to help guarantee Ukraine's security in any future peace deal with Russia.
He made the promise during a high-level summit at the White House on Monday, attended by President Zelenskyy, NATO officials and European leaders.
Trump said the US and Europe would provide "a lot of help," though details remain unclear.
Zelenskyy called it a major step forward and said security guarantees for Kyiv will likely be worked out within 10 days.
Trump also said he had called President Putin during Monday's summit to arrange a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said such a meeting could take place within the next two weeks and expressed hope it "finally leads to a ceasefire in Ukraine."
But French President Emmanuel Macron expressed caution, saying he had the "greatest doubts about the Russian president's desire for peace."
"We have the American president and Ukraine who want peace... I am not convinced about Putin," Macron said.
Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, in an X post called it "an important day of diplomacy today with the focus on lasting peace not a temporary ceasefire."
US President Donald Trump is arranging a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, hoping it will help bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
But, even as Trump hosted Zelenskyy, along with NATO and European leaders at the White House, Russia launched fresh attacks on Ukraine.
A peace deal appeared far from imminent.
Even though Trump said he no longer believes Ukraine "needs a ceasefire" to secure peace, European leaders in the room disagreed.
Germany's Friedrich Merz urged Trump to "put pressure on Russia for a ceasefire," a sentiment echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said it should be a prerequisite for any direct talks with Russia.
Despite this, Merz said a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting could take place within the next two weeks.
Zelenskyy, bolstered by Trump's promise of US security guarantees for Ukraine, says he is ready to talk to Putin.
The largely unspoken issue, or at least one mentioned only in passing, is Russia's demand for Ukrainian territory, an issue Zelenskyy said is "something we will leave between me and Putin."
In this blog, we'll focus on what happened at Monday's meeting and how it could shape what happens next.