“We welcome President Trump’s efforts to end killing in Ukraine,” said the heads of state and government of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Great Britain, Finland and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. At the same time, they agreed to “support these efforts diplomatically and to continue our extensive military and financial help for Ukraine”. Among other things, this could happen “by maintaining and imposing restrictive measures against Russia”.
“Sensible negotiations can only take place as part of a ceasefire or a reduction in combat acts,” emphasized Kiev European supporters. Robust and credible security guarantees that enabled Ukraine to effectively defend their sovereignty are also necessary.
“We continue to stick to the principle that international boundaries must not be changed by violence,” emphasized the heads of state and government. The way to peace in Ukraine should not be decided without Kyiv.
In concrete terms, Merz said that Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj “is involved” in the summit planned for Friday in the US state of Alaska. In an ARD interview, he said: “In any case, we cannot accept that the heads of the Europeans and the heads of the Ukrainians are talked about or even decided about territorial issues between Russia and America.” He assumes that the US government see it exactly the same way.
Merz announced that he would make a “close coordination” on the phone again on Sunday with Trump. “The Europeans do not want to and must not be the subjects when it comes to a very important strategic question of the future of Europe.”
The Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj thanked the Europeans for their support. He had previously insisted on a say in his country. “Every decision against us, every decision without Ukraine is also a decision against peace,” he said on Saturday. At the same time, he again categorically rejected territories to Moscow: The Ukrainians would “not leave their land to the occupiers”.
Trump had previously announced that his “excited meeting” with Putin would take place on Friday in the US state of Alaska. The Kremlin confirmed the meeting and invited Trump to visit Russia afterwards. To possible content of an agreement, Trump said that this could include an “area exchange” between Russia and Ukraine. However, there is talk of this “later or tomorrow”. “It is really not easy,” added the US President.
The US President had announced several times in the election campaign that the Ukraine War was being able to end “in 24 hours”. Since his reintroduction to the White House in January, he has been on the phone with Putin several times. In doing so, he initially showed himself very benevolently towards his Russian counterpart, but increasingly critically and angry in the past few weeks.
Most recently, Trump Moscow had set an ultimatum for the end of the Ukraine War. This ran on Friday – exactly on the day on which the US President now announced his meeting with Putin for August 15th.
To prepare for the summit between Trump and Putin, western government agents came together in Great Britain on Saturday. US Vice President JD Vance and the Ukrainian Presidential Officer Andrij Jermak also took part in the meeting. The declaration of the European heads of state and government was then published on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, the fights continued unabated. According to Ukrainian information, more than ten people were killed in Russian attacks on the weekend in the Saporischschja, Donetsk and Cherson regions. At the same time, three in the Black Sea city of Odessa were killed in a blocked area of bathers because they triggered a mine that was to protect against a possible Russian attack.
In turn, the Ukrainian army reported a successful attack on an oil refinery in the West Russian region of Saratow and the recapture of a village in the Sumy region. In turn, the Russian army reported on Saturday to take a village in the Donetsk industrial and mining region.
In view of the Russian advance, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of families with children from around 20 towns in the east of the country on Friday evening. The Russian army currently controls around 20 percent of the Ukrainian territory.
