European Leaders back Zelensky-Putin-Trump summit after Alaska talks stall

European leaders on Saturday expressed support for a three-way summit involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and US President Donald Trump, after the much-anticipated US-Russia meeting in Alaska ended without a ceasefire agreement.

In a joint statement signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the leaders stressed the need to maintain pressure on Moscow until peace is achieved, including through continued sanctions. They also made it clear that Russia “cannot have a veto” over Ukraine’s membership in the European Union or NATO.

Moscow has repeatedly opposed Kyiv’s potential NATO membership, but the European leaders said they were “ready to work … towards a trilateral summit with European support.”

The Trump-Putin talks, held Friday in Alaska, ended without concrete commitments from Putin to halt the war Russia launched against Ukraine in February 2022.

“We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy until there is a just and lasting peace,” the joint statement read.

While some European leaders were uneasy about Trump’s direct engagement with Putin without Zelensky’s involvement, others struck a more positive tone. Starmer praised Trump’s diplomatic push as bringing the world “closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of both Trump and Putin, also hailed the summit, writing on X that it marked the end of years of hostility between Washington and Moscow. “Today the world is a safer place than it was yesterday,” Orban said.

But Macron struck a cautious note, warning against Russia’s “well-documented tendency to not keep its own commitments.” He stressed that any peace deal must include “unbreakable” security guarantees and called for increased pressure on Moscow until “a solid and durable peace” is secured.

The European leaders also welcomed what they described as “security guarantees” reportedly offered by Trump to Ukraine, though no details were given. A diplomatic source told AFP that the guarantees were similar to — but separate from — NATO membership.

“Strong security guarantees that protect Ukrainian and European vital security interests are essential,” von der Leyen posted on X.