Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the US state of Alaska this Friday to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of negotiations.
But President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Saturday that Ukraine won't surrender land to Russia to buy peace.
“Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace,“ he added.
European leaders issued a joint statement overnight Saturday to Sunday saying that “only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed”.
“The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations”, said the statement, signed by leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain, Finland and EU Commission chief Ursula Von Der Leyen, without giving more details.
“The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,“ they said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, following phone calls with Zelensky, Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said “the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukrainians” and that Europe also had to be involved in the negotiations.
A 'dignified peace'
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.
Ukraine's leader has been pushing for a three-way summit and argues that meeting Putin is the only way to make progress towards peace.
Nine months later, Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
The Kremlin said the choice was “logical” because the state close to the Arctic is on the border between the two countries, and this is where their “economic interests intersect”.
Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January, but Trump has failed to broker peace in Ukraine as he promised he could.
Russia and Ukraine continued pouring dozens of drones onto each other's positions in an exchange of attacks in the early hours of Saturday.
The Russian army claimed to have taken Yablonovka, another village in the Donetsk region, the site of the most intense fighting in the east and one of the five regions Putin says is part of Russia.
As a prerequisite to any peace settlement, Moscow demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of the regions and commit to being a neutral state, shun Western military support and be excluded from joining NATO.
Kyiv said it would never recognise Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield - AFP
Hence then, the article about european leaders urge more pressure on russia ahead of trump putin summit was published today ( ) and is available on Daily Sun ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( European leaders urge more 'pressure' on Russia ahead of Trump-Putin summit )
Also on site :