BERLIN — U.S. President Donald Trump will join European leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an emergency virtual summit on Wednesday.
The call, organized by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, comes ahead of Friday’s summit in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine.
The virtual summit will focus on pressure options against Russia, questions about Ukrainian territories seized by Russia, security guarantees for Kyiv and the sequencing of potential peace talks, a German government spokesperson told POLITICO.
Merz and other European leaders demand that Putin first agrees to a ceasefire before any peace talks or land swaps between Moscow and Kyiv can take place. They have also made clear that any potential territorial exchanges must be balanced and agreed with Kyiv, and that Ukraine should receive firm security guarantees to protect it against further aggression.
Three diplomats told POLITICO that Merz’s team had been in intensive discussions with other capitals in recent days to organize the virtual meeting.
Merz also spoke with Trump via phone Sunday night, and has repeatedly urged the U.S. president to increase pressure on Putin by imposing crippling sanctions against Russia’s banking sector as well as secondary sanctions against Moscow’s trading partners.
Merz told the German public broadcaster on Sunday night that “we cannot accept that territorial issues between Russia and America are discussed or even decided over the heads of the Europeans, over the heads of the Ukrainians,“ and added: “Putin only acts under pressure.”
According to a schedule seen by POLITICO, the virtual meetings will start at 2 p.m. German time on Wednesday, beginning with a one-hour discussion including leaders from Germany, Finland, France, the U.K., Italy, Poland, plus the European Commission and European Council presidents as well as Zelenskyy and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
The schedule then contains a one-hour discussion from 3 p.m., between the European leaders and Zelenskyy, with Trump and his Vice President J.D. Vance.
Finally, the so-called coalition of the willing of military supporters of Ukraine will come together for a joint call from 4.30 p.m., hosted by Germany, the U.K. and France.
This story has been updated.
The post Trump to join European leaders on emergency call before Putin talks appeared first on Politico.
