Ukraine, EU, US leaders speak ahead of Trump-Putin meeting: Key takeaways

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived connected Wednesday successful Berlin for a virtual acme with European officials and United States President Donald Trump, convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The call was meant to bring European leaders unneurotic with Trump earlier the planned August 15 Alaska gathering betwixt Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Those connected the telephone included Merz and the US president, arsenic good arsenic US Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, among others.

Here are the cardinal takeaways:

What happened connected Wednesday?

The imaginable of Trump gathering unsocial with Putin has near European leaders uneasy. Since the Alaska acme was announced, they person worked to unafraid Trump’s receptor 1 past time, and connected Wednesday, that effort resulted successful a bid of high-level calls.

About 12:00 GMT, European leaders and NATO members held a video league with Zelenskyy. Roughly an hr later, Trump and Vice President JD Vance joined the discussion.

Chancellor Merz and President Zelenskyy past delivered associated statements, followed by a abstracted code from Trump astatine the Kennedy Center successful Washington, DC.

Later successful the day, the “Coalition of the Willing”, a radical of 31 countries committed to strengthening enactment for Ukraine against Russian aggression, met successful a abstracted virtual session, issuing a statement.

What were the cardinal takeaways from each these talks?

Here is simply a breakdown.

EU leaders:

Following the talks with different European leaders and Trump:

• Merz said that European and Ukrainian information interests indispensable beryllium respected astatine Friday’s Alaska summit. He underlined the value of Ukraine having a spot astatine the array successful immoderate bid discussions, with a ceasefire arsenic the indispensable archetypal step.
• “We person made it wide that Ukraine volition beryllium astatine the array arsenic soon arsenic determination is simply a follow-up meeting,” Merz told reporters successful Berlin alongside Zelenskyy. “President Trump wants to marque a ceasefire a priority,” helium added.
• Any territorial speech successful Ukraine “must lone beryllium discussed with Ukraine”, French President Macron told reporters successful Bregancon, France, pursuing the call.
• “Trump was precise wide connected the information that the US wants to get a ceasefire astatine this gathering successful Alaska,” Macron said.  “We indispensable proceed to enactment Ukraine, and erstwhile I accidental ‘we’, I mean Europeans and Americans,” helium added.

• Ukraine needs credible information guarantees arsenic portion of immoderate bid deal, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Starmer said pursuing the virtual summit. The United Kingdom’s enactment for Ukraine is “unwavering”, helium added.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy be a associated quality league successful Berlin aft a virtual gathering with US President Donald Trump [Omer Messinger/Getty Images]

Zelenskyy statements:

• Zelenskyy, during the quality league with Merz, said Putin is “bluffing” astir being funny successful peace. “Russia is attempting to represent itself arsenic susceptible of occupying each of Ukraine. That is undoubtedly what they want,” Zelenskyy said.
• The Ukrainian person besides warned that “talks astir us, without us, volition not work”.
• “Everything concerning Ukraine indispensable beryllium discussed exclusively with Ukraine. We indispensable hole a trilateral format for talks. There indispensable beryllium a ceasefire,” Zelenskyy added.
• He besides said “there indispensable beryllium information guarantees – genuinely reliable ones”.
• Among the agreed principles, Zelenskyy said, is that Russia indispensable not beryllium allowed to artifact Ukraine’s way to joining the European Union oregon NATO, and that bid talks should spell manus successful manus with maintaining unit connected Russia.

• The Ukrainian person besides emphasised that sanctions should beryllium strengthened if Russia fails to hold to a ceasefire during the Alaska summit. “These are effectual principles. It is important that they work,” Zelenskyy added.

Thank you for your support! https://t.co/8GyunlWhwf

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 13, 2025

Trump’s quality conference:

Following the call, Trump spoke astatine the Kennedy Center successful Washington, DC:

• “We had a precise bully call. I would complaint it a 10, precise friendly,” Trump explained. The US person past went connected to sermon imaginable adjacent steps up of Friday’s meeting.
• “There’s a precise bully accidental that we’re going to person a 2nd meeting, which volition beryllium much productive than the first. Because the archetypal is: I’m going to find retired wherever we are and what we’re doing,” helium said.
• Trump besides mentioned the anticipation of a aboriginal gathering “between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they’d similar to person maine there”, aft the archetypal gathering betwixt him and Putin.
• Trump besides said helium plans to telephone Zelenskyy and different European leaders aft Friday’s discussions with Putin.
• The US president besides said determination volition beryllium “very terrible consequences” for Russia if Putin doesn’t hold to extremity the warfare aft Friday’s meeting.

US President Donald Trump speaks during the unveiling of the Kennedy Center Honors nominees connected August 13, 2025, astatine the Kennedy Center successful Washington, DC [Mandel Ngan/AFP]

• “Do you judge you tin person him to halt targeting civilians successful Ukraine?” 1 writer asked Trump. “I’ve had that speech with him,” Trump said.
• “Then I spell location and I spot that a rocket deed a nursing location oregon a rocket deed an flat gathering and radical are laying dormant successful the street. So I conjecture the reply to that is no, due to the fact that I’ve had this conversation,” helium added.
• However, helium reaffirmed his volition to find a solution: “I privation to extremity the war. It’s Biden’s war, but I privation to extremity it. I’ll beryllium precise arrogant to extremity this war, on with the 5 different wars I ended,” helium said, without explaining which different conflicts helium was referring to. He has claimed recognition for ceasefires betwixt India and Pakistan successful May and Israel and Iran successful June, and helped mediate truce pacts betwixt Azerbaijan and Armenia, and betwixt the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. Trump has besides repeatedly made it wide that helium covets a Nobel Peace Prize and believes helium is deserving of one.

The Coalition of the Willing:

The conjugation issued a statement outlining 4 cardinal requirements they judge should signifier the ground of Friday’s talks.

• They said “meaningful negotiations tin lone instrumentality spot successful the discourse of a ceasefire oregon a lasting and important cessation of hostilities”.
• Second, if Russia refuses a ceasefire successful Alaska, sanctions and different economical measures should beryllium intensified to further strain its warfare economy.
• Third, “international borders indispensable not beryllium changed by force”.
• Fourth, Ukraine should person beardown information guarantees, with the Coalition of the Willing acceptable to help, including a reassurance unit aft hostilities end. “No limitations should beryllium placed connected Ukraine’s equipped forces oregon connected its practice with 3rd countries,” the connection said. And Russia cannot veto Ukraine’s way to EU oregon NATO membership.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer co-chairs the Coalition of the Willing video league telephone with European leaders connected Ukraine [Jack Taylor/Reuters]

Will the European involution power the Alaska summit?

It’s unclear, but analysts accidental that Wednesday’s calls amusement however Europe has managed to marque definite that Trump can’t disregard the continent.

“Even if definite commitments are given, we don’t cognize what volition hap once Putin and Trump find themselves successful a room,” Lucian Kim, a elder expert for Ukraine with the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera.

“The Europeans person rather a batch of powerfulness and adjacent much than they realise themselves,” helium said, adding that it was an “achievement” for European leaders to get Trump’s attention, and determination is present a quality successful tone.

“It was not a fixed erstwhile Trump archetypal got into bureau that helium would perceive to the Europeans,” helium said. Kim besides noted that Europe has utilized its powerfulness and power to unit Russia implicit the war.

“Russia was heavy babelike connected Europe, not the United States, and this deficiency of commercialized is hurting Russia,” helium said. “Also, you person European banks that are holding hundreds of billions of dollars successful Russian authorities assets.”

“Trump has realised that without the Europeans, it volition beryllium precise hard to scope immoderate solution successful Ukraine.”

What has Russia said truthful acold astir immoderate bid agreement?

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexey Fadeev told a property league that Moscow’s presumption remained unchanged since President Putin outlined it successful June 2024.

At the time, Putin had said that a ceasefire would instrumentality effect instantly if the Ukrainian authorities withdrew from 4 Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russia — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He besides insisted that Ukraine indispensable formally wantonness its bid to articulation the NATO subject alliance.

Russia presently controls astir 19 percent of Ukraine, including the entirety of Crimea and Luhansk, implicit 70 percent of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, arsenic good arsenic tiny portions of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.