Europe wants to meet Trump before his Alaska meeting with Putin

European leaders are urgently trying to arrange a call with Donald Trump before his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, according to Bloomberg.

The planned conversation comes after a weekend of closed-door talks involving US, Ukrainian, and European officials in the UK, where Vice President JD Vance and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with their counterparts to discuss strategy.

EU ambassadors were updated on Sunday, and the bloc’s foreign ministers will meet virtually on Monday to align positions ahead of the talks.

The push for direct contact is tied to growing concern over the demands coming from Moscow, as Putin wants Ukraine to cede the entire eastern Donbas region and Crimea as a prerequisite for a ceasefire and negotiations on a long-term settlement.

That would mean Kyiv losing parts of Luhansk and Donetsk it still controls, handing Russia a win it has failed to secure on the battlefield since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said any path forward would “have to be on the table” in terms of territory, alongside security guarantees for Ukraine. He suggested that might involve Kyiv acknowledging loss of control over certain areas without formally giving up sovereignty.

European capitals push unified demands ahead of Alaska meeting

Ahead of Friday’s face-to-face in Alaska, European governments are working to set a unified stance on both the structure and the content of the meeting.

On Saturday, during talks hosted by Lammy and attended by Vance, European and Ukrainian security advisers pressed Washington to increase pressure on Moscow with stronger sanction threats. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “Putin only acts under pressure,” adding that military force alone was insufficient and US sanctions have yet to be applied.

He argued that if sanctions were enforced, the Russian economy would feel a major impact. Merz, who was scheduled to speak with Trump on Sunday, said the meeting must deliver real outcomes, either more pressure on Russia or a recognition by Moscow that “this war cannot go on.”

European officials have been clear that any ceasefire must carry tough enforcement measures. The goal is to prevent Russia from gaining economic relief from a peace agreement, only to restart the war later.

Vance described the upcoming Alaska session as “a major breakthrough for American diplomacy” and said the goal was to secure a settlement on territory “where the killing stops.”

Vance also told European partners that Washington would no longer fund Ukraine at previous levels, saying they should increase their own financial commitment to the war effort.

Ukraine calls for pressure as EU explores Russian asset use

On Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces struck Zaporizhzhia with guided aerial bombs and that Moscow had shown “no real step” toward peace. He called for sanctions and maximum pressure, saying that if Russia will not end the war, “its economy must be stopped.”

In Brussels, officials are exploring the use of frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine. Two EU officials said one idea is to borrow from the €190 billion held at the Belgian clearing house Euroclear and lend the funds to Kyiv. A senior EU official noted that the bloc could eventually debate what to do with the assets if Russia refuses to compensate Ukraine for war damage.

Merz confirmed that Europeans want Zelenskyy present at the Alaska meeting. With Trump expected to discuss possible territorial concessions with Putin, European leaders have insisted on strong security guarantees for Ukraine in any agreement.

European capitals are also opposing any limits on Western military or financial aid to Kyiv. Leaders have rejected a territorial swap, an idea Trump floated last week, warning it would amount to rewarding aggression. They argue that the current front line should serve as the basis for ceasefire negotiations.

An EU official reportedly described Russia’s proposal as “a rather one-sided swap.” Rutte said talks must respect Ukraine’s right to decide its own future and maintain troop levels without outside caps, and that NATO should keep full freedom of presence on its eastern flank.

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