Zelenskyy and European leaders set to speak to Trump ahead of his summit with Putin
發佈日期: 2025-08-13 19:51
TVB News
Ukraine's president and European leaders will speak to U.S. President Donald Trump at a virtual meeting ahead of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. The leaders will try to drive home the perils of Trump selling out Kyiv's interests in pursuit of a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.
This as the U.S. president says the talks will serve as a "feel-out" meeting in his efforts to end the three-and-a-half-year conflict.
Tracey Furniss has more.
The European Union said Tuesday that its leaders will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of Trump's planned meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday, adding they are "extremely active" in their support for Kyiv.
European Union spokesperson Arianna Podesta said: "Today, we are in a situation in which there will be tomorrow a call between EU leaders, President Zelenskyy and President Trump, in view of the bilateral meeting that President Trump has called for Friday with President Putin. Let me remind you that at the same time, the EU is extremely active on all fronts to support Ukraine and put Ukraine in a position of strength."
The White House said the goal of Trump's meeting with Putin is to listen and walk away with a better understanding of how to end the Russia and Ukraine war.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary said: "This is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get again a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to and end."
At a youth conference in Kyiv, the Ukrainian president said, "The conversation between Putin and Trump may be important for their bilateral track, but they cannot agree on anything about Ukraine without us."
Harriet Morris at The Associated Press said: "The absence of Ukraine is alarming European allies that Kyiv may be pressured to agree to a deal that favours Russia.
It's hard to see what the summit could produce in terms of a concrete peace plan for Ukraine, given the Ukrainian and Russian positions on how to achieve this are so far apart. Trump has said several times that there could be an agreement on land swaps. Whatever happens, the meeting is a diplomatic coup for Putin, who is keen to show that he's not isolated and has a place at the table alongside the U.S. president."
