‘It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory' – Taoiseach says after Trump's meeting with Putin

Irish Independent

3 hours ago

Micheal Martin attended a virtual leaders' meeting of the so-called 'coalition of the willing' in support of Ukraine on Sunday.
The call was convened by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
On Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting Donald Trump with several EU leaders, including Mr Starmer, also travelling to Washington DC in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian president.
Mr Martin, who will not be in Washington, said he had assured Mr Zelensky on Sunday that Ireland will 'continue to steadfastly support Ukraine'.
EU leaders have agreed that sanctions and wider economic measures 'will be reinforced' if Russia continues its military action.
The Taoiseach also said that he believes Ukraine needs 'long-term security guarantees'.
Speaking after Sunday's online conference, Mr Martin said: 'I welcomed the opportunity to join other European leaders today to discuss developments on ending the war in Ukraine.
'We had a very useful engagement with President Zelensky as he prepares to meet with President Trump tomorrow in Washington.
'I welcome the initiative by President Trump to seek the ending of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Ireland, together with our European partners, continues to contribute to these efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.'
The meeting of European leaders follows the US president's summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Mr Martin said it is 'essential that Ukraine is a full participant' in any discussions regarding its future.
He said: 'I therefore welcome that President Zelensky will meet with President Trump in Washington tomorrow, together with other European leaders.'
Mr Martin said he stressed that international law and principles of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity need to be respected for security in the region.
'It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.
'I fully agree that Ukraine needs strong, credible, long-term security guarantees. This will mean sustained support from Europe, the United States and other partners.
'Ireland stands ready to play our part. Earlier this year we committed to providing non-lethal military support to Ukraine and we will look to do more.
'At today's meeting, I also reiterated Ireland's readiness to contribute to any peacekeeping force that is in line with the UN Charter.'
The Taoiseach said Ireland will also continue to support Ukraine's EU membership ambitions, adding that Russia 'cannot have a veto' on the matter.
'Our joint efforts for peace should be combined with firm and co-ordinated pressure on Russia to agree to a ceasefire and engage seriously with negotiations on a just and lasting peace.
'We agreed today that sanctions and wider economic measures will be reinforced if Russia does not stop the killing.
'The human dimension and accountability must also be at the centre of a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
'Russia must urgently return Ukrainian children who they have abducted as well as prisoners of war and civilians being held unlawfully.'
Meanwhile, special US envoy Steve Witkoff said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the US and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling Nato's collective defence mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the war.
"We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato," he said on CNN's State Of The Union.
Mr Witkoff said it was the first time he had heard Mr Putin agree to that.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, said that "we welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine, and the 'Coalition of the willing' - including the European Union - is ready to do its share".
Mr Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreed to "robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing".
He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear.
"It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine," he said.
"But there are no details how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of Nato, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees."
Mr Zelenskiy, speaking in Brussels on Sunday, said the current front lines in his country's war against Russia should be the basis for peace talks.
"We need real negotiations, which means we can start where the front line is now," Zelenskiy said, adding that European leaders supported this.
Zelenskiy reiterated his position that it was necessary to establish a ceasefire in order to then negotiate a final deal.
Mr Witkoff defended Mr Trump's decision to abandon his push for Russian to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made.
"We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal," Mr Witkoff said, without elaborating.
"We began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal," he said.
European and NATO leaders announced Sunday they will join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump on Monday. They are rallying around the Ukrainian leader after his exclusion from Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The remarkable show of solidarity — with leaders from France, Britain and Germany saying they would be at Zelenskyy's side at the White House on Monday — was an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated Zelenskyy in a heated Oval Office encounter.
'The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Mr. Zelenskyy to the hilt,' said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations.
'It's a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump," he said.
The European leaders' physical presence to demonstrate their support for Ukraine could potentially help ease concerns in Kyiv and in other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal that Trump says he wants to broker with Russia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on X that she will take part in the talks, 'at the request' of Zelenskyy. The secretary-general of the NATO military alliance, Mark Rutte, will also take part in the meeting, his press service said.
The office of President Emmanuel Macron said the French leader will travel 'at the side of President Zelenskyy' and that he, too, would visit the White House. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also take part in the meeting with Trump, according to a statement from 10 Downing Street.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will also be part of the European group. Writing on X, he said he would discuss security guarantees, territorial issues, and further support for Ukraine.
The grouped trip underscored European leaders' determination to ensure that Europe has a voice in Trump's attempted peace-making, after the U.S. president's summit on Friday with Putin — to which Zelenskyy wasn't invited.
Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said European leaders are trying to 'shape this fast-evolving agenda.' After the Alaska summit, the idea of a ceasefire appears all-but-abandoned, with the narrative shifting towards Putin's agenda of ensuring Ukraine does not join NATO or even the EU.