US President Donald Trump will attend a virtual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders, a White House official confirmed yesterday. The official confirmed Trump’s participation in the meeting on Wednesday on condition of anonymity, a day after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that he had invited the US president, Zelensky and other European officials. The meeting will take place just two days before Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said that today’s virtual meeting will focus on “further options for putting pressure on Russia” and “preparations for possible peace talks and related issues regarding territorial claims and security guarantees.” The summit will include multiple formats of discussion with the participation of the heads of state and government of Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. The president of the European Commission, the head of the European Council, the secretary general of NATO and the vice president of the United States are also expected to join the talks.
The White House earlier on Tuesday downplayed expectations for a summit between Trump and Putin this week, describing the upcoming meeting as a “listening exercise” for the US leader. Spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt confirmed that the summit would take place in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, on Friday, with the president setting a “goal” of being able to “leave with a better understanding of how we can end this war.”
“Only one side that is involved in this war will be there, so it’s up to the president to go and have a stronger and better understanding of how we hope to end this war,” she told reporters at the White House.
Leavitt was referring to the fact that Zelensky will not be present during the meeting. She stressed that the meeting is being held at Putin’s request.
The upcoming talks will be the first face-to-face meeting between sitting Russian and US presidents since June 2021, when Putin met with then US President Joe Biden in Geneva, Switzerland. It will also mark the first time a Russian president has set foot on Alaskan soil since the Russian Empire sold the territory to the US in 1867.
