US President Donald Trump said yesterday that Kyiv and Moscow will both have to cede land to end the war in Ukraine and talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week will instantly show whether the Kremlin leader is willing to make a deal.
European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy plan to speak with Trump ahead of his summit with Putin in Alaska on Friday, amid fears Washington may dictate unfavourable peace terms to Ukraine.
Trump has hardened his stance towards Moscow by agreeing to allow additional US weapons to reach Ukraine and threatening tariffs against buyers of Russian oil, but fears have persisted in Europe that he might agree to a deal that forces big concessions from Kyiv.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that ‘transatlantic unity, support to Ukraine and pressure on Russia’ were needed to end the war and ‘prevent future Russian aggression in Europe’.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney and they welcomed diplomatic efforts ‘to bring peace and agreed that this must be built with Ukraine – not imposed upon it,’ according to a readout from Downing Street.
Trump told a White House Press conference of his talks with Putin, “This is really a feel-out meeting.” He said he would know ‘probably in the first two minutes’ whether progress was possible.
“I’m going to be telling him, ‘You’ve got to end this war,’” he said.
“I’m going to go and see the parameters now. I may leave and say, ‘Good luck.’ And that’ll be the end. I may say, ‘This, this is not going to be settled.’”
Trump said a future meeting could include Zelenskiy and the US goal is a speedy ceasefire in the bloody 3-1/2-year-old conflict. He plans to talk to European leaders soon after his talks with Putin.
Trump has in the past talked about land swaps but neither Russia nor Ukraine has been open to ceding land as part of a peace deal.
Trump said: “There’ll be some land swapping going on.”
“I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine,” he said. He said Russia had occupied some ‘very prime territory’ but ‘we’re going to try to get some of that territory back’.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said he spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, posting on X that lasting peace requires ‘an unconditional ceasefire as a prerequisite for substantive negotiations’.
Kallas said the EU would work on a 19th package of sanctions against Russia and warned against concessions to Moscow. “As far as Russia has not agreed to full and unconditional ceasefire, we should not even discuss any concessions,” she said in a statement. “The sequencing of the steps is important. First an unconditional ceasefire with a strong monitoring system and ironclad security guarantees.”
In a post on X, Kallas said the EU would also work to increase military support for Ukraine and assistance for its budget needs and accession to the EU.
Zelenskiy spoke to the leaders of India and Saudi Arabia in an effort to mobilise support for Kyiv beyond Europe ahead of Trump’s meeting with Putin.
&uuid=(email))