Trump and Putin are to meet on Friday in Alaska. Exchange of positions of Ukraine and other European countries from the US was to be served on Saturday in Great Britain, whose hosts were the British Foreign Minister David Lamma and the American vice president JD Vance.
As reported to the group of correspondents in Brussels, the source in the EC, the exchange with the Americans shows that “President Trump does not consider a meeting in Alaska as a concession to President Putin.” “He wants to personally test his possibilities with President Putin,” said the interlocutor.
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This approach may be in line with the current tenant of the White House, with which Europeans have encountered in commercial negotiations. First, they were conducted at a lower level, but at some point Trump got involved in conversations in person, meeting at the end of July in Scotland with the head of the EC Ursula von der Leyen.
One of the topics of the conversation between Trump and Putin on Friday, August 15, is to be – as the American president put it – the need to “exchange territories”. However, it is not clear what the US leader meant. Speculating, among others about freezing the current front lines. Russia could also agree to the suspension of weapons in exchange for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. In response to this, the Ukrainian president Wołodymyr Zelanski stated that Ukraine “would not give his own land to the Russian occupier.”
“Territorial exchange would be one -sided”
The EC also critically perceives a proposal forced by Putin regarding the exchange of territories. – As for territorial issues, Russia's position is presented as a territorial exchange, but it looks like it would be one -sided – the source said. Russia is also demanding the West of Sanctions. The possibilities of their “softening” are not excluded in Brussels.
On the other hand, the EU source, which was talked about on Sunday, by a group of correspondents, emphasized that the frostbite of immobilized Russian assets was not involved. These assets – as the interlocutor emphasized – should remain immobilized until the end of the war and full of compensation for Ukraine by Russia caused damage. – At some point there may be a discussion about what to do with these assets if Russia does not compensate for Ukraine the damage it caused – he noted.
According to him, security guarantees are “great importance” for Ukraine. – The most reliable security guarantee would be the abolition of restrictions on the Ukrainian armed forces and support provided by Ukraine by the third states – added a high -ranking EU official.
Readiness to grant a security guarantee has already been signaled by the so -called Coalition of willing Western countries.
Planned Putin-Trump meeting
On Friday in Alaska, the first meeting of the American president with Putin has been to take place since the Russian assault to Ukraine in 2022. President Joe Biden in 2021 in Geneva was the last time with the Russian leader. It is still unknown whether Zelanski will be invited to the summit in Alaska.
The Ukrainian leader thanked on Sunday for the support he gave on a statement of six European leaders on Sunday, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as the chairwoman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Leaders emphasized in it that “they remain faithful to the principle that international borders cannot be changed by force.”
“Ukraine has the freedom to choose its own fate. Sensing negotiations can only take place in the context of a weapon suspension or limitation of hostilities. The road to peace in Ukraine cannot be established without Ukraine,” they wrote.
In addition to von der Leyen and Tusk, the document was signed by: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Prime Minister of Great Britain Keir Starmer, Finland President Alexander Stubb and the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni.
