European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has renewed calls that any deal between Washington and Moscow to end the war in Ukraine must include Kyiv and the EU.
"The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security," Kallas said on August 10.
Kallas’s comments came ahead of US President Donald Trump's meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week in a bid to end the Ukraine war. European leaders have welcomed Trump's efforts to try to resolve the 41-month-old military conflict but emphasized the need to pressure Moscow and provide security guarantees for Kyiv.
Kallas also announced that she will convene a meeting of European foreign ministers on August 11 to discuss next steps.
“International law is clear: All temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine,” Kallas said, reiterating support for Ukraine, which has pushed back against US suggestions it would need to cede some territory to Russia.
Kallas warned that “a deal must not provide a springboard for further Russian aggression against Ukraine, the transatlantic alliance and Europe.”
Her comments echoed a joint statement on August 9 by Kyiv’s European allies who said any peace talks with Russia must include Ukraine.
The statement by the British, French, Italian, German, Polish, Finnish, and European Commission leaders stressed that “only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine, and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.”
The European leaders also vowed to uphold their “substantive military and financial support to Ukraine," adding that “Ukraine has the freedom of choice over its own destiny.”
"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," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post on August 10 in response to the statement. He said Kyiv “values and fully supports” it.
In another statement released by Kyiv's Western allies on August 10, the Nordic-Baltic 8 group voiced its support for Kyiv and said peace could only be brought about through increased pressure on Russia to stop its "unlawful" war.
The statement by the leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden said they "reaffirm the principle that international borders must not be changed by force."
NBC News, citing a senior US official and three others briefed on the matter, reported late on August 9 that the White House is considering inviting Zelenskyy to the Alaska meeting on August 15.
However, Reuters later quoted another White House official as saying that while Trump would be open to a three-way meeting in Alaska, for now, plans were only for Trump-Putin bilateral talks as requested by the Russian leader.
In a Fox News interview on August 10, US Vice President JD Vance said he did not think it would be productive for Putin to sit down with Zelenskyy before meeting with Trump. Vance said Washington was still working to schedule future talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.
Putin has so far ruled out meeting with Zelenskyy, who has said he is ready for such direct talks.
Trump has suggested that any resolution to the war could include "swapping of territories." That would potentially conflict with Kyiv's longstanding position that it must regain all the territory Russia currently occupies.
“We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched,” Trump said at the White House on August 8. “There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow.”
In a video released hours later, Zelenskyy warned that any peace deal excluding Kyiv or forcing the ceding of territory would not be acceptable.
"Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier," he said
“Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work," Zelenskyy said.
"The path to peace for Ukraine should be determined together -- and only together with Ukraine -- this is key principle," he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron -- following phone calls with Zelenskyy and other Western allies -- echoed those remarks, saying that "the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without the Ukrainians, who have been fighting for their freedom and security for more than three years now."
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed negotiators, on August 9 reported that European officials had presented a counterproposal to the unspecified US plan, including a requirement that a cease-fire take place before any other steps are made and that any swaps of territory be reciprocal and include security guarantees.
European officials presented their proposals to Vance during a meeting with Ukrainian and European officials at a country mansion outside of London on August 9, said the report said, which could not immediately be confirmed.
Zelenskyy said his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, was at the meeting in Britain.
“There have been talks between security representatives of the United States and Europe -- Ukraine, the United States -- Vice President Vance, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, and Poland. The meeting was constructive. All our messages were conveyed. Our arguments are being heard,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that “it is important that our joint approaches and shared vision work toward a genuine peace. A consolidated position. A cease-fire. An end to the occupation. An end to the war.”
The Trump-Putin talks come at a pivotal moment, with Trump increasingly frustrated with Putin and the Russian president showing no signs of bending on the Kremlin's maximalist demands. Trump and Putin have held six phone calls, and the White House's lead envoy has traveled to Moscow at least three times.
Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov confirmed the meeting and said that Alaska was a symbolic location, given the two countries' shared Arctic borders.
Russia's invasion has turned into the largest land war in Europe since World War II, devastating Ukraine, and transforming Russia, turning its economy into a war machine and establishing a police-state government criminalizing dissent.
Moscow's casualties, dead and wounded, stand at more than 1 million, according to Western estimates. Ukraine's war dead are believed to exceed 100,000, with overall casualties around 400,000.
Despite the toll, and international pressure, Putin has pressed his advantage on and off the battlefield.
Russian troops are grinding down Ukrainian defenses, closing in on two major cities, Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar.
Russia forces have also battered Ukrainian cities with record numbers of missiles and drones in recent months, targeting civilians, residential buildings, and electricity infrastructure.
A new round of Moscow’s shelling and drone strikes on August 10 killed at least three civilians in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region, while two others were killed in Donetsk, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukraine has also targeted military-related infrastructure deep inside Russia with drone strikes. On August 10, Ukraine’s military said that it had struck an oil refinery in Russia's Saratov region in an overnight drone attack.
Earlier, regional authorities in Saratov said at least one person was killed and several others injured in a Ukrainian drone strike that hit several apartments and an “industrial facility.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that it shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones, including one over the Moscow area on August 10.
The damage and casualties caused by the Ukrainian attacks are disproportionate to the many deaths and injuries, and severe destruction inflicted by the Russian forces since the invasion began.
Ukraine’s military also said on August 10 that it had taken back the village of Bezsalivka in the northeastern Sumy region from the Russian Army. It claimed that 18 Russian troops had been “eliminated” in the fighting.
Meeting In Alaska
The decision to meet Putin face-to-face -- something that Trump's predecessor Joe Biden refused to do following the invasion -- reflects Trump's belief that his relationship with the Russian leader will yield a durable peace agreement.
For Putin, meeting Trump in person -- without the presence of Zelenskyy or Ukrainian officials -- is a small victory, reflecting Putin's position that Zelenskyy is an illegitimate leader and that a grand bargain to end the war can only be reached directly with the United States.
Traveling to the United States is also a small victory for Putin who is under a war crimes arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Only members of the court are obliged to detain him, and the Trump administration is openly hostile to the Hague tribunal.
Land 'Swapping'
It was unclear what Trump meant by "swapping" territory; Ukraine doesn't currently hold any Russian territory.
Russia seized control of the Crimean Peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and now occupies about one-fifth of the country, including almost all of the Luhansk region and substantial parts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions, the entirety of which Moscow now baselessly claims belong to Russia.
A senior EU official told RFE/RL on August 10 that “regarding territorial issues, the Russian position is framed as a territorial swap, but it appears as a rather one-sided swap."
"President Trump does not consider it to be a concession to President Putin to have this meeting in Alaska. Rather, President Trump wants to test the ground himself with President Putin."
"Security guarantees are of the utmost importance for Ukraine. The most robust security guarantee would be that there are no limitations on Ukraine armed forces and third countries support to Ukraine," the official added
Reuters quoted Kyiv resident Olesia Petritska, 51, as saying that "not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories."
