Latest news with #USRussiasummit
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Trump drops Ukraine ceasefire demand and suggests Putin plan could bring peace
US president Donald Trump on Saturday split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin , adopting Putin's plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding unoccupied territory to Russia, instead of the urgent ceasefire Trump had said he wanted before the meeting. Skipping ceasefire discussions would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are expected to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine visits Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Trump and European allies, as well as Zelenskiy, had agreed to before the US-Russia summit in Alaska. Trump told European leaders that he believed a rapid peace deal could be negotiated if Zelenskiy agrees to cede the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops, according to two senior European officials briefed on the call. In return, Putin offered a ceasefire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again, the senior officials said. He has broken similar promises before. READ MORE Trump had threatened stark economic penalties if Putin left the meeting without a deal to end the war, but, as European and Russian officials acknowledged, he suspended those threats in the wake of the summit. The American president's moves got a chilly reception in Europe, where leaders have time and again seen Trump reverse positions on Ukraine after speaking with Putin. Trump wrote on Truth Social early on Saturday that he spoke by phone to Zelenskiy and European leaders after his meeting with Putin. He said that '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.' European leaders made clear, publicly and privately, that was not the case. They issued a statement that did not echo Trump's claim that peace talks were preferable to a ceasefire. Britain, France, Germany and others welcomed Trump's efforts to stop the war but threatened to increase economic penalties on Russia 'as long as the killing in Ukraine continues'. Still, in public statements, the European leaders praised Trump – in mellower terms than normal – for his efforts to broker peace, and in particular for his pledge to involve the United States in guaranteeing Ukraine's security going forward. Giorgia Meloni , Italy's prime minister, said in a statement that Trump supported a collective-security clause that would allow Ukraine 'to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the US, ready to take action if it is attacked again'. Trump confirmed Zelenskiy's announcement earlier on Saturday that the Ukrainian president would come to the White House on Monday. If that visit goes well, Trump said, he would schedule another meeting with Putin. With Russia advancing on the battlefield, a ceasefire would give Ukraine relief from Moscow's attacks and deprive Putin of some leverage at the bargaining table. Before his meeting with Putin, Trump had agreed with European allies and Zelenskiy that no peace negotiations could begin without a ceasefire in place. Zelenskiy, who was left out of the summit, said in a statement that he and Trump would on Monday 'discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war'. Trump, in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity after the summit, put the onus for securing peace on Zelenskiy. 'Now it is really up to President Zelenskiy to get it done,' he said. 'I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit.' Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has demanded that Ukraine cede a large part of its land, disarm, swear off joining Nato and change governments. This article originally appeared in The New York Times . 2025 The New York Times Company
Reuters
5 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Trump offers hope on security guarantees as Ukraine braces for Putin meet
LONDON/PARIS/KYIV, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Ukraine's allies said President Donald Trump was willing to back security guarantees for Kyiv, a potentially significant but as yet vague offer that could give some hope to Ukraine on Thursday with one day to go until a U.S.-Russia summit on ending the war. Trump had shown willingness to join the guarantees at a last ditch virtual meeting with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday, leaders said, though he made no public mention of them afterwards. Zelenskiy and his allies have voiced some optimism as they intensified efforts to prevent any deal between Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Alaska on Friday that would leave Ukraine vulnerable to further Russia attack. Friday's summit comes at one of the toughest moments for Ukraine in a war, the largest in Europe since World War Two, that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Speaking after Wednesday's meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump insisted that the transatlantic NATO alliance should not be part of security guarantees that would designed to protect Ukraine from future attacks in a post-war settlement. "President Trump also stated this clearly, saying things that I find important: namely, that NATO should not be part of these security guarantees - and we know this is a key point, particularly for the Russian side - but (also) that the United States and all willing allies should be part of them. That is what we are committed to," Macron said. "And for me, this was an important clarification today." German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who hosted Wednesday's meeting, also said there would be robust security guarantees. "President Trump also confirmed this today and said he is on board," he told reporters. Expanding on those statements, a European official told Reuters that Trump said on the call he was willing to providing some security guarantees for Europe, without spelling out what they would be. The official, who did not want to be named, said this was the first time he has been so explicit about providing some guarantees since the Coalition of the Willing talks led by Britain and France began in March. It "felt like a big step forward", the official said. However, it was not immediately what such guarantees could mean in practice. "We have no details of his (Trump's) view on this but now he is more open for some kind of U.S. support for the guarantees," a source familiar with the matter said, adding Trump understood that a U.S. backstop was needed for guarantees to be workable. "So he mentioned it (on the call) and maybe everyone will work on it," the source said. A European Commission spokesperson also welcomed Trump's offer but said the details were up to the White House to answer. Zelenskiy met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to build on momentum from Wednesday's talks. Zelenskiy and Starmer embraced before heading in to their meeting in Downing Street. On Wednesday, Trump threatened "severe consequences" if Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine and while he did not specify what the consequences could be, he has warned of economic sanctions if his meeting on Friday proves fruitless. However, Russia is likely to resist Ukraine and Europe's demands strongly and previously has said its stance had not changed since it was first detailed by Putin in June 2024. To gear up for the Alaska summit, Putin held a meeting with top officials and representatives of Russia's leadership, the TASS state news agency reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. A Kremlin aide said Putin and Trump will discuss the "huge untapped potential" for Russia-U.S. economic ties as well as the prospects for ending the war at the meet, the first summit between their countries since Putin met Joe Biden in 2021. A source familiar with the matter said Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev will participate. Dmitriev, who heads up Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund, has previously held talks with Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy, and has spoken of possible business cooperation between Moscow and Washington. Zelenskiy confirmed this week that Russian forces had advanced by about 9-10 km (6 miles) near the town of Dobropillia in the Donetsk region. Ukraine, suffering manpower challenges, was forced to move in reserves to stabilise the situation. Trump described the aim of his talks with Putin in Alaska as "setting the table" for a quick follow-up that would include Zelenskiy. Trump has said a deal could include what he called a land swap. Russia controls around a fifth of Ukraine and a land swap within Ukraine could cement Moscow's gains. Zelenskiy and the Europeans worry that would reward Putin for nearly 11 years of efforts to seize Ukrainian land and embolden him to expand further west in Europe. Trump's agreement last week to the summit was an abrupt shift after weeks of voicing frustration with Putin for resisting the U.S. peace initiative. As conditions for a ceasefire and the start of talks, Putin has demanded Ukraine withdraw its forces from four regions that Russia has claimed as its own but does not fully control, and formally renounce plans to join NATO. Kyiv swiftly rejected the conditions as tantamount to surrender.
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's borders must not be changed by force, EU leaders say
European leaders have warned against Ukrainian borders being redrawn by force – two days before a US-Russia summit on Ukraine is due to take place in Alaska. In a statement, European leaders said "the people of Ukraine must have the freedom to decide their future." It added the principles of "territorial integrity" must be respected and "international borders must not be changed by force". The statement was signed by 26 of 27 leaders. Missing from the signatories was Hungary's leader Viktor Orban, who has maintained friendly relations with Russia and has repeatedly tried to block EU support for Ukraine. The statement underscored the nervousness felt by Europeans about Moscow's actions in Ukraine, which many countries – particularly those bordering Russia or those in which the memory of Soviet occupation still lingers – believe could pose a direct threat in the near future. In recent years Sweden and Finland have joined Nato, Baltic countries have reinstated conscription, and Poland has set aside billions to build a barrier alongside its border with Russia. European countries have a long history of borders being redrawn by bloody wars and are extremely concerned by the prospect of the US allowing that to happen in Ukraine. A legal recognition of Russia's sovereignty over territories it conquered by force is unacceptable to the EU. However, the notion that some Ukrainian regions currently under Russian control may not return to Kyiv is gaining ground. US President Donald Trump has insisted that any peace deal would involve "some swapping of territories" and could see Russia taking the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and keeping Crimea. In exchange it would give up the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which it partially occupies. Last week, while admitting that some Ukrainian territory might end up being de facto controlled by Russia, Nato chief Mark Rutte stressed that this should not be formally recognised. In their statement, European leaders said "Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has wider implications for European and international security", and stressed the need for a "just and lasting peace". They also said Ukraine should be capable of "defending itself effectively" and pledged to continue providing military support to Kyiv, which was "exercising its inherent right of self-defence". "The European Union underlines the inherent right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny and will continue supporting Ukraine on its path towards EU membership," the statement concluded. Denting the apparent unity of the declaration was a line in smaller print at the bottom of the page pointing out that "Hungary does not associate itself with this statement". In a post on social media its leader Victor Orban said he had opted out of supporting the statement as it attempted to set conditions for a meeting to which the EU was not invited and warned leaders not to start "providing instructions from the bench". He also urged the EU to set up its own summit with Russia – though EU leaders have been shunning direct talks with Moscow since it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. On Monday Trump revealed he had sought Orban's advice over the chances of Ukraine winning against Russia on the battlefield. "He looked at me like, 'What a stupid question'," Trump said, suggesting that Orban felt Russia would continue to wage war until it beat its adversary. EU leaders are due to hold talks with Trump on Wednesday. They will be hoping to put the security of the European continent and Ukrainian interests at the forefront of his mind – at a time when nervousness is growing that the peace imposed on Ukraine may end up being neither "just" nor "lasting". Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are then expected to meet in Alaska on Friday. Zelensky could still attend Trump-Putin meeting, but rest of Europe is shut out Why are Trump and Putin meeting in Alaska and when will it happen?
