European Leaders Insist Peace Talks Must Include Kyiv as Trump-Putin Summit Nears

Published: 19th July 2025. The English Chronicle Desk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warmly welcomed a firm statement from key European allies declaring that the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine’s direct involvement. The declaration comes just days before a planned summit between former US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled to take place in Alaska on Friday.

The joint statement, issued late on Saturday by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Finland, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, made clear that Kyiv must be part of any negotiation process aimed at ending the conflict. Their message, delivered at a sensitive moment in the war, reflects deep concerns in European capitals about the possibility of a bilateral deal between Washington and Moscow that sidelines Ukraine.

While a senior White House official confirmed that Trump was “open” to Zelenskyy’s inclusion in the talks, the Alaska meeting remains, for now, a strictly bilateral engagement between the US and Russia.

Meanwhile, the fighting on the ground has continued with deadly consequences. On Sunday, Russian officials reported that a Ukrainian drone attack on the southern Russian region of Saratov killed one person and damaged several apartments along with an industrial facility. The day before, in Ukraine’s Kherson region, a Russian drone strike on a minibus killed two people and injured 16 others. In Zaporizhzhia, two more civilians died after their car was hit by another Russian drone.

In their carefully worded statement, European leaders praised Trump’s efforts to seek an end to the war but insisted that any negotiations must be grounded in a ceasefire or at least a significant reduction in hostilities. “Only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed,” the statement read.

Zelenskyy, posting on X, responded with gratitude for what he described as unwavering European solidarity. “The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine and our people today for the sake of peace in Ukraine, which is defending the vital security interests of our European nations,” he wrote. He singled out the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Poland, the UK, Finland, and the European Commission for their explicit support.

The Ukrainian leader had also issued a warning a day earlier on Telegram, declaring that any deal reached without Kyiv’s involvement amounted to “dead decisions” that “will never work.”

Efforts to coordinate positions continued on Saturday at Chevening House in Kent, the British Foreign Secretary’s official country residence. The meeting brought together UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, US Vice-President JD Vance—currently on holiday in Britain—alongside Ukrainian and European representatives. Lammy later described the discussions as part of the UK’s “ironclad” commitment to achieving a just and lasting peace.

If the Trump-Putin meeting proceeds as planned, it will mark the first time a US president has met the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Their last encounter dates back to June 2021 in Geneva, when Joe Biden was in office.

While no official details of a potential settlement have been made public, Trump has previously suggested that ending the war would involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,” a remark widely interpreted as signaling pressure on Ukraine to surrender parts of its land. Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected such proposals, insisting that Ukraine “will not give up [its] land to occupiers.”

According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, European representatives at the Chevening meeting presented a counterproposal to Trump’s hinted plan. Their version reportedly calls for an immediate ceasefire before any territorial discussions, with any exchanges being strictly reciprocal and backed by concrete security guarantees.

Although it remains unclear whether the talks at Chevening produced any binding commitments, Zelenskyy described the discussions as constructive. In his nightly address, he reiterated a core principle: “The path to peace for Ukraine should be determined together and only together with Ukraine. This is a key principle.”