Zelensky thanks Europe for its support as Kyiv seeks place at table with Trump and Putin

Straits Times

6 hours ago

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says any decisions taken without Ukraine will be "stillborn" and unworkable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked European leaders on Aug 10 for backing his demand for a seat at the table as Russia and the US prepare for a summit this week where Kyiv fears they could seek to dictate terms to it for ending the war.
US President Donald Trump, who for weeks had been threatening new sanctions against Russia for failing to halt the conflict, announced instead on Aug 8 that he would
hold an August 15 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
A White House official said on Aug 9 that Mr Trump was open to Mr Zelensky attending, but that preparations currently were for a bilateral meeting with Mr Putin.
The Kremlin leader last week ruled out meeting Mr Zelensky at this point, saying the conditions for such an encounter were "unfortunately still far" from being met.
Mr Trump said a potential deal would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both (sides)", a statement that compounded Ukrainian alarm that it may face pressure to surrender more land.
Mr Zelensky says any decisions taken without Ukraine will be "stillborn" and unworkable.
On Aug 9, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland and the European Commission said in a joint statement that any diplomatic solution
must protect the vital security interests of Ukraine and Europe.
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"The path to peace cannot be decided without Ukraine," they said, demanding "robust and credible security guarantees" to allow Ukraine to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Mr Zelensky said the following day: "The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations."
A European official said Europe had come up with a counter-proposal to Mr Trump's, but declined to provide details.
Russian officials accused Europe of trying to thwart Mr Trump's efforts to end the war.
"The Euro-imbeciles are trying to prevent American efforts to help resolve the Ukrainian conflict," former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev posted on social media on Aug 10.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a vituperative statement that the relationship between Ukraine and the European Union resembled "necrophilia".
Mr Roman Alekhin, a Russian war blogger, said Europe had been reduced to the role of a spectator.
"If Putin and Trump reach an agreement directly, Europe will be faced with a fait accompli. Kyiv - even more so," he said.
Captured territory
No details of the proposed territorial swap that Mr Trump alluded to have been officially announced.
Russia, which mounted
a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 , holds about a fifth of the country and has claimed the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as its own, although it controls only about 70 per cent of the last three.
Russia has also taken pockets of territory in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions and said in recent weeks it has captured villages in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukraine says it holds a sliver of the Kursk region in western Russia.
Mr Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin analyst, said a swop could entail Russia handing over 1,500 sq km to Ukraine and obtaining 7,000 sq km, which he said Russia would capture anyway within about six months.
He provided no evidence to back any of those figures. Russia took only about 500 sq km of territory in July, according to Western military analysts who say its grinding advances have come at the cost of very high casualties.
Ukraine and its European allies have been haunted for months by the fear that Mr Trump, keen to claim credit for making peace and hoping to seal lucrative joint business deals between the US and Russia, could align with Mr Putin to cut a deal that would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv.
They had drawn some encouragement lately as Mr Trump, having piled heavy pressure on Mr Zelensky and
berated him publicly in the Oval Office in February, began criticising Mr Putin and expressing disgust as Russia pounded Kyiv and other cities with its heaviest air attacks of the war.
But the impending Putin-Trump summit, agreed during a trip to Moscow by Mr Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff last week, has revived fears that Kyiv and Europe could be sidelined.
"What we will see emerge from Alaska will almost certainly be a catastrophe for Ukraine and Europe," wrote Dr Phillips P. O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
"And Ukraine will face the most terrible dilemma. Do they accept this humiliating and destructive deal? Or do they go it alone, unsure of the backing of European states?" REUTERS