EU calls to keep up pressure on Russia ahead of Trump-Putin summit

(AFP) Top European leaders called Sunday to maintain pressure on Russia to achieve peace and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine ahead of the summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

The two leaders are due to meet on Aug. 15 in Alaska as part of Trump's efforts to find a way out of the conflict caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the meeting will take place without the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has demanded to be part of the negotiations.

Announcing the summit on Friday, Trump said that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both," referring to Ukraine and Russia, without giving further details.

"Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything," Zelensky warned Saturday on X. "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier."

The Ukrainian leader said he had spoken with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, who on Saturday said on X that "Ukraine’s future cannot be decided without the Ukrainians."

"Europeans will also necessarily be part of the solution, as their own security is at stake," the French president assured.

EU applauds the work of Donald Trump

On Sunday, top European leaders signed a statement in which they said that "only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation" will be able to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.

"We welcome President Trump's work to stop the killing in Ukraine" and "stand ready to support this work diplomatically, as well as by upholding our substantive military and financial support to Ukraine" as well as "upholding and imposing restrictive measures against the Russian Federation," the European leaders stated.

Among the signatories of the declaration are Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Fiedrich Merz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in addition to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Extraordinary meeting before the Putin-Trump summit

European Union diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas announced an emergency meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers to be held Monday to call for any agreement to end the war in Ukraine to include Kiev and Brussels.

"President Trump is right that Russia must end its war against Ukraine. The U.S. has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the U.S. and Russia must have Ukraine and the E.U. included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security," Kallas said in a statement on Sunday.

The three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine held this year failed, and it remains unclear whether a summit will help bring peace closer.