Leaders of France, Germany and Britain will host a video call on Sunday for their so-called “coalition of the willing” to discuss steps towards finishing the war in Ukraine, after Donald Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire after his Alquestiona summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, more than three years after Russia’s invasion, had been one of the US president’s core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not invited.
But after a meeting that yielded no clear breakthrough, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine — a shift that would appear to favor Putin who has long argued for nereceivediations on a final peace deal.
Ukraine and its European allies have criticized it as a way to purchase time and press Russia’s battlefield advances.
Trump spoke with Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back from Alquestiona to Washington, declareing afterward that “it was determined by all that the best way to finish the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would finish the war.”
Trump-Putin summit finishs without Ukraine deal
Ceasefire agreements “often times do not hold up,” Trump added on his Truth Social platform.
But Zelensky, who is due to visit Washington on Monday, appeared unconvinced by the alter of tack, declareing on Saturday that it “complicates the situation”.
If Moscow lacks “the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to receive Russia to have the will to implement far greater — peaceful coexistence with its neighbors for decades,” he declared on social media.
‘Harsh reality’
Trump expressed support during his call with Zelensky and European leaders for a proposal by Putin to take full control of two largely Russian-held Ukrainian regions in exalter for freezing the frontline in two others, an official briefed on the talks informed French press agency AFP.
Putin “de facto demands that Ukraine leave Donbas,” an area consisting of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, the source declared.
In exalter, Russian forces would halt their offensive in the Black Sea port region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, where the main cities are still under Ukrainian control.
Several months into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia in September 2022 claimed to have annexed all four Ukrainian regions even though its troops still do not fully control any of them.
“The Ukrainian president refutilized to leave Donbas,” the source declared.
Trump notably also declared the United States was prepared to provide Ukraine security guarantees, an assurance German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed as “significant progress.”
But there was a scathing assessment of the summit outcome from the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accutilized Putin of seeking to “drag out nereceivediations” with no commitment to finish the bloodshed.
“The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of finishing this war any time soon,” Kallas declared.
Zelensky back in White Houtilize
The main diplomatic focus now switches to Zelensky’s talks at the White Houtilize on Monday.
An EU source informed AFP that a number of European leaders had also been invited to attfinish.
The Ukrainian president’s last Oval Office visit in February finished in an extraordinary shouting match, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berating Zelensky for not displaying enough gratitude for US aid.
Zelensky declared Saturday after a “substantive” conversation with Trump about the Alquestiona summit that he viewed forward to his Washington visit and discussing “all of the details regarding finishing the killing and the war.”
In an interview with broadcaster Fox News after his sit-down with Putin, Trump had suggested that the onus was now on Zelensky to secure a peace deal as they work towards an eventual trilateral summit with Putin.
“It’s really up to President Zelensky to receive it done,” Trump declared.
European pressure
In an earlier statement, European leaders welcomed the plan for a Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit but added that they would maintain pressure on Russia in the absence of a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine raged on, with Kyiv announcing Saturday that Russia had launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile during the night.
Back in Moscow, Putin declared his summit talks with Trump had been “timely” and “very utilizeful.”
In his post-summit statement in Alquestiona, Putin had warned Ukraine and European countries not to engage in any “behind-the-scenes intrigues” that could disrupt what he called “this emerging progress.”
(With newswires)
