Live updates: Trump to meet Zelensky and EU leaders ahead of Putin summit
Date: 11 min ago
Title: Zelensky to arrive in Berlin for European talks with Trump
Content:
President Volodymyr Zelensky will arrive in Berlin today, according Ukrainian state media outlet Ukrinform, where he will join a virtual call between US President Donald Trump and European leaders.
The video conference comes two days before Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss an end to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.
Putin is expected to use the meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, on the northern edge of Alaskan capital Anchorage, to demand Ukraine cedes territory in return for a ceasefire.
Zelensky has rejected the possibility of ceding land to Russia. He will join German Chancellor Friederich Merz for a bilateral meeting while in Berlin.
Update:
Date: 19 min ago
Title: Trump will participate in Ukraine talks today
Content:
President Donald Trump is participating in online talks on Ukraine today, a White House official told CNN.
The talks come ahead of Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday he was planning to host a virtual meeting with Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to discuss the war in Ukraine.
With the Trump-Putin summit looking set to sideline Ukraine and Europe, the German government on Monday said it was arranging a meeting of its own to prepare for 'possible peace negotiations' and potential 'territorial claims.'
'The talks will focus on further options for action to put pressure on Russia,' the German government said.
Merz invited the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, Poland and Ukraine to the meeting, the government said, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and Trump and his Vice President JD Vance.
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Russian officials and media reveled in the images of the 'pomp-filled reception' and 'utmost respect' that Putin received in Alaska. Putin has 'broken out of international isolation,' returning to the world stage as one of two global leaders and 'wasn't in the least challenged' by Trump, who ignored the arrest warrant for Putin from the ICC, Bristow told The Associated Press. For Putin, 'mission accomplished' Putin 'came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war,' said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. 'He will consider the summit outcome as mission accomplished.' In recent months, Trump has pressed for a ceasefire, something Ukraine and its allies supported and insisted was a prerequisite for any peace talks. The Kremlin has pushed back, however, arguing it's not interested in a temporary truce -– only in a long-term peace agreement. Moscow's official demands for peace so far have remained nonstarter for Kyiv: It wants Ukraine to cede four regions that Russia only partially occupies, along with the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014. Ukraine also must renounce its bid to join NATO and shrink its military, the Kremlin says. After Alaska, Trump appeared to echo the Kremlin's position on a ceasefire, posting on social media that after he spoke to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, 'it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.' In a statement after the Trump call, the European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire. 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