Kyiv. European leaders on Saturday night called for more “pressure” on Russia after trump and Putin announced a summit to end the war in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss ukraine, despite calls from Ukraine and Europe to negotiate a three-year conflict.

Announcing the summit last week, Trump said, “Certain areas will be exchanged for the benefit of both sides.” However, Reacting to this statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine will not give land to Russia to establish peace.

“The Ukrainians will not agree to give their land to the occupiers,” he said on social media. “Any decision about us in Ukraine’s absence is an anti-peace decision,” he said.

Zelensky urged Ukraine’s allies to take “clear steps” to achieve lasting peace during a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

European leaders issued a joint statement on Saturday and Sunday night, saying only “active diplomacy, support for Ukraine and an approach to pressuring the Russian Union to end the illegal war can only succeed.” ’

They welcomed Trump’s efforts and said they were ready to cooperate diplomatically by maintaining support for Ukraine and imposing sanctions against Russia.

“The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” said a statement signed by EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain and Finland. ’

They said the resolution should protect the vital security interests of Ukraine and Europe. They stressed the need for “robust and credible security guarantees”. Enable Ukraine to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Without Ukraine, the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided,” it said. Ahead of the Putin-Trump summit, national security advisers from Kiev’s allies — the United States, the European Union and Britain — met in Britain on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said after a telephone conversation with Zelensky, Starmer and German Chancellor Frederic Merge that “the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukrainians” and that Europe should also participate in the talks.

In a speech on Saturday evening, Zelensky said, “This war must end honestly and it is up to Russia to end the war started.” ’

honorable peace

Three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine this year have not been successful. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes since Russia launched a full-fledged offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin, a former KGB official who has led Russia for 25 years, has refused to hold talks with Zelensky.

Ukraine’s leaders have pushed for a trilateral summit and have argued that a meeting between Zelensky Putin is the only way forward in the direction of peace.

The summit in Alaska, the far northern region sold by Russia to the United States in 1867, will be the first summit between u.S. and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.

Moscow sent troops to Ukraine nine months after Biden’s putin was assassinated. “It’s a far cry from the war, which is going on in our land, against our people,” Zelensky said of the place. ’

The Kremlin said the choice was “logical” because the state near the Arctic borders the two countries, where their “economic interests are intertwined”.

Moscow has also invited Trump to visit Russia. Trump and Putin last sat together at the G-20 summit in Japan in 2019 during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January, but Trump has failed to mediate peace in Ukraine.