EU to hold urgent Ukraine talks before Trump-Putin meeting
The two leaders will meet in the US state of Alaska Friday to try to resolve the three-year war but the European Union has insisted that Kyiv and European powers should be part of any deal to end the conflict.
The idea of a US-Russia meeting without President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has raised concerns that a deal could require Ukraine to cede swathes of territory, which the EU has rejected.
EU foreign ministers will discuss their next steps in a video conference Monday from 1400 GMT, joined by their Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiga.
Ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy warned against capitulating to Putin's demands.
'Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits. And this is not just a moral position – it is a rational one,' Zelenskyy wrote in a statement published on social media.
'Concessions do not persuade a killer,' he added.
Europe pushes for Ukraine role in Trump-Putin talks
European leaders pushed hard over the weekend for Ukraine to be a part of the talks.
'The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,' leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain and Finland, and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement, urging Trump to put more pressure on Russia.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday he hoped and assumed that Zelenskyy would attend the Alaska summit.
Leaders of the Nordic and Baltic countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden – also said no decisions should be taken without Kyiv's involvement.
Talks on ending the war could only take place during a ceasefire, they added in a joint statement.
Vice President JD Vance on Sunday said the United States is working to 'schedule' a meeting between Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.
'Testing Putin'
Asked on CNN if Zelenskyy could be present, US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker responded that 'yes, I certainly think it's possible.'
'Certainly, there can't be a deal that everybody that's involved in it doesn't agree to. And, I mean, obviously, it's a high priority to get this war to end.'
The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said any US-Russia deal to end the war had to include Ukraine and the bloc.
'The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine's and the whole of Europe's security,' she added.
As a prerequisite to a peace settlement, the Kremlin has demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of several regions claimed by Moscow, commit to being a neutral state, shun US and EU military support and be excluded from joining NATO.
Kyiv said it would never recognise Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.
Both sides have meanwhile stepped up aerial assaults, with Ukraine claiming to have hit a facility that produces missile components in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region. Local authorities said one person was killed in the attack and two were wounded.
Russia's defence ministry said on Monday its forces had captured the village of Fedorivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. The village is northeast of the embattled towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnograd towards which Russia has been advancing.
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