European leaders are backing Ukraine ahead of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15. “International borders must not be changed by force,” underlines a statement issued early this morning and signed by the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland and Finland, as well as the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “The path to peace cannot be decided without Ukraine,” they added.
The statement notes that"the current line of contact should be the starting point for negotiations." This phrase, couched in diplomatic language, is a response to Russian demands that Ukraine immediately accept the cession of the invaded territories in exchange for a ceasefire. kyiv's European allies reject this. They advocate for a ceasefire without this condition, and if Ukraine were to cede territory, it would have to be the invaded country that would accept it."The Russian position is framed within a territorial exchange, but it seems very unilateral," explain EU sources familiar with the content of the meeting held this Saturday in the United Kingdom between British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, US Vice President J.D. Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US, European, and Ukrainian security advisers.
The reference to territorial integrity contrasts with Trump's statements during the signing of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan last Friday. At that event, he stated that negotiations are underway regarding a territory swap. Asked at the ceremony whether Ukraine would have to give up any land, he replied:"We're looking at that. We're actually looking at taking some back and swapping some. It's complicated, but we're going to take some back and we're going to swap some. There will be a mutually beneficial territory swap. We'll talk about that later or tomorrow."
Less than a week before Trump and the Russian autocrat meet in Alaska, in the frozen US territory, the step taken by several European leaders is very significant because it seeks, above all, to ensure that these two leaders do not decide on their own, and without the participation of the attacked country, how to end the invasion initiated by Moscow in February 2022. The movements already began this Saturday, when several leaders spoke with the Ukrainian president by telephone: among them the British, Keir Starmer, and the French, Emmanuel Macron. The same was done by the Spanish, Pedro Sánchez, who later published a message on the social network X: “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
Sánchez's message also contained another of the demands that Europeans put on the table whenever peace negotiations between the attacked country, Ukraine, and the aggressor, Russia, are discussed:"We must achieve a just and lasting peace that respects Ukraine's independence and sovereignty." A similar phrase can be read in the leaders' statement—"the need for solid and credible security guarantees that allow Ukraine to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity." Sánchez did not sign this statement. Others did: French President Emmanuel Macron; Finnish President Alexander Stubb; the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, and Poland, Donald Tusk; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz; and EU President von der Leyen.
The selection of leaders is interpreted as an attempt to get Trump to take into account the opinions of European allies. One of them is that the Finnish president has forged a close relationship with Trump in the wake of this war—Finland is the European country that shares the longest border with Russia—; Italy's Meloni has a good personal relationship with the US president; France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are the largest countries in the Old Continent and members, like Italy, of the G-7; Polish President Tusk is one of the most belligerent toward Russia and one of Ukraine's greatest supporters. In short, this thesis points to a careful selection of signatories to influence the US president's opinion.
Europeans are not invited to the meeting in Alaska, despite all the money spent supporting Ukraine and financing the purchase of military equipment needed to confront the invasion. The White House has stated that Trump is open to Zelensky's participation, but for now plans a bilateral meeting, as requested by Putin.
However, the European leaders who signed the statement expressed their satisfaction with President Trump's efforts to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, end the Russian Federation's war of aggression, and achieve a just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine. The last part of these words holds a key meaning: an end to hostilities must imply assurances to kyiv that Russia will not invade again, and if so, that there must be at least a group of countries willing to defend Ukraine from such aggression. Many fear that Trump will forget this, hence its inclusion in the text in diplomatic language.
Since Trump returned to the White House—and aware of his good relationship with Putin—the Europeans have focused on trying to prevent the United States from withdrawing its support for Ukraine and on preventing the US president from sitting down to negotiate an end to the aggression without kyiv's involvement. This strategy is now at risk—or so the signatories of the statement fear—ahead of next Friday's meeting. In fact, the headline itself makes it clear that the signatory leaders have stated their position"on the planned meeting between President Trump and President Putin."
The fact that the Alaska meeting is bilateral gives rise to the specter that Europe has been trying to avoid since Trump took office. Partly to ward it off, the Europeans have conceded in their negotiations with the Americans in recent months—the 5% of GDP defense spending promised at the NATO summit and the unbalanced tariff agreement. And now, however, they risk it being for nothing in the face of next Friday's photo opportunity, an image Putin sought to rehabilitate himself before the world after three years condemned to being an international pariah following the invasion.
"President Trump does not view holding this meeting in Alaska as a concession to President Putin. Rather, President Trump wants to test the waters with President Putin himself," EU sources said after hearing Washington's explanations.
The latter is something that many European states dislike, especially those closest to the Russian border. Therefore, the statement states that they are"ready to work diplomatically," but "maintaining significant military and financial support for Ukraine (...) and maintaining and imposing restrictive measures against the Russian Federation."
There's another image that could be revived on Friday: that of the leaders of two international powers drawing borders and deciding the future of other countries that didn't even participate in the talks to make the decision. In other words, a photo reminiscent of those at the end of World War II, in which the then-leaders of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin, divided up their areas of geographical influence without taking into account the affected countries.
The EU's foreign ministers will meet this Monday in an extraordinary council. Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas stressed this Sunday that any agreement between Washington and Moscow to end the war must include Ukraine and the EU.
Zelensky, for his part, stated that kyiv “fully values and supports” the joint declaration. “The end of the war must be fair, and I am grateful to all those who today support Ukraine and our people for the sake of Ukrainian peace, which defends the vital security interests of our European nations,” he said on his social media profile.
