EU leaders called on U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday to stand up for Europe’s security interests at his scheduled war summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska. The summit, which seeks to find a way out of the four-year war in Ukraine, conspicuously marginalizes European countries and could even leave Ukraine out of direct participation. Trump has indicated willingness to a peace agreement that includes Ukrainian territorial losses and land exchanges positions that have terrified Kyiv and EU capitals.
In an exclusive statement, 26 of 27 EU leaders underscored that peace “cannot be decided without Ukraine” and requires respect for international law, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed land-for-peace offers, whereas Russia still partly controls four Ukrainian provinces Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. European apprehensions go beyond Ukraine, fearing that a Russian victory would embolden Moscow to attack other states. Trump, who has been eulogizing Putin’s long rule and criticizing Zelenskyy’s leadership, is adamant that “there’ll be some land swapping going on” with “bad stuff for both” parties.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to hold a virtual meeting Wednesday to mobilize Trump’s backing of Ukraine. Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, Putin’s closest EU ally, declined to sign the EU statement, underscoring divisions in the bloc’s approach toward Moscow.
