European leaders have urged US President Donald Trump to negotiate with Russia “only in the context of a ceasefire“ and “to protect the vital security interests of Ukraine and Europe“.
This is stated in a joint statement by the head of the European Commission and the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Finland and the United Kingdom, which is not part of the EU. The title of the document explicitly states that it was adopted “on the eve of the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin“.
On Saturday, a meeting on Ukraine was held at the residence of British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Chevening House near London, with the participation of US Vice President J. D. Vance, Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov, and national security advisers to European leaders.
The document by European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb was distributed by the governments of the signatories after the meeting.
“We share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect the vital security interests of Ukraine and Europe. We believe that these vital interests must include the need for strong and reliable guarantees for the security of Ukraine,“ the document says. European leaders have said that "meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or a significant reduction in the intensity of hostilities." They also reiterated their position that "the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be resolved without Ukraine." Europeans said that the current line of contact in Ukraine should be the starting point for negotiations on territories. "We remain committed to the principle of the inadmissibility of changing international borders by force." The current line of contact should be a starting point for negotiations, the declaration said.
The Europeans again welcomed Trump's diplomatic initiatives, but expressed the view that efforts to end the conflict should combine "active diplomacy, support for Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation."
They declared "to support this work to end the conflict diplomatically, as well as by maintaining significant military and financial support for Ukraine, including through the activities of the "Coalition of the Willing," as well as by maintaining and introducing restrictive measures against the Russian Federation."
The parties to the "Coalition of the Willing" "Those who want to" do not want to send their troops to Ukraine. As reported by the weekly newspaper The Sunday Times, instead, European powers intend to focus on strengthening the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.
According to a senior official in the UK Ministry of Defense, "given that no one wants to send their troops to die in Ukraine, it is important to ensure" the combat readiness of the Ukrainian armed forces. According to the publication, it is not just about air defense systems or drones, but also about the production of long-range missiles so that Kiev does not depend on other countries for their use.
The US administration has managed to achieve significant progress in negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian crisis with representatives of Kiev and NATO allies in the UK. This was reported by the correspondent of the American portal Axios Barak Ravid, citing his own sources.
„An American official told me that today's hours before the president's meeting with Putin in Alaska have led to significant progress towards Trump's goal of ending the war in Ukraine“, he writes in X.