By Bojan Pancevski and Alexander Ward
According to European representatives, Dow Jones–European heads of state and government plan another meeting with US President Donald Trump before the planned summit between the United States and Russia. They fear that Trump could conclude an agreement with Vladimir Putin, which undermines Ukraine and endangers the security of Europe.
The aim is to reaffirm the red lines that could prevent Europe and Ukraine from accepting a ceasefire agreement. Trump is to be urged to exert additional pressure on the Russian president.
One of the red lines in Europe is that a ceasefire must be the first step of an agreement that all area exchange has to be based on mutuality and based on the current front lines and that a long -term security guarantee for Ukraine is of fundamental importance, they said.
The European heads of state and government also plan to convince Trump that he should allow the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj and other European heads of government to participate in the meeting planned for August 15 in Alaska. Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday at Fox News that Selenskyj would not take part in the first meeting with Putin, but that the United States was planning to include the Ukrainian head of state in a later summit with Putin and Trump.
Trump said on Monday that his meeting with Putin in Alaska was used to “explore” whether a peace agreement was possible. Trump threatened to stop negotiations if he had the feeling that no agreement could be reached – a decision that he claimed to make within a few minutes.
Trump said he would call Selenskyj after he was talked to Putin before talking to other European heads of state and government. “I may say: ‘Good luck, continue to fight’, or maybe I will say that we can make an agreement.”
Trump added that only Putin and Selenskyj could conclude a peace agreement that could include an exchange of territory between their countries.
In a phone call on Sunday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz Trump invited to a meeting, as official announced. Trump intends to take part in video conference, they said. The German government, which announced the meeting on Monday, sent an invitation to the participants of the virtual summit, which will take place on Wednesday at 3 p.m. CEST. The European participants include the heads of state and government of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Finlands as well as representatives of the NATO and the EU as well as Selenskyj.
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(End) Dow Jones Newswires
August 12, 2025 00:48 ET (04:48 GMT)