Europe tells Trump to stand firm against Putin on Ukraine ceasefire

London: European leaders have aired a potential deal to halt the war in Ukraine under plans to be put to Russian leader Vladimir Putin in talks with US President Donald Trump on Friday, signalling a negotiation over territory as long as a ceasefire comes first.

The proposal emerged from an online meeting to set the terms for the talks on Friday, amid European concerns that Trump will trade away territory at his summit with Putin without pushing hard enough for an end to the hostilities and guarantees over future security.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the meeting, which included Trump as well as every major European leader, that Putin was “bluffing” about his desire for peace and should be subjected to escalating economic sanctions.

Trump described the call as “very friendly” and later appeared to harden his message to Putin by threatening “very severe consequences” for Russia if it did not agree to a peace deal, but he offered no detail about what this would mean.

With Russian forces piercing some of the Ukrainian defences on the front line at the same time as Russian missiles bring destruction to Ukrainian cities, the Alaska summit represents the first significant opportunity for a ceasefire after months of intensifying attacks.

Zelensky told Trump on Wednesday, Berlin time, to heighten pressure on Putin with economic sanctions and secondary tariffs because the Russian leader was only pretending to consider a ceasefire.

“I told the US president and all our European colleagues that Putin is bluffing,” he said at a press conference after the online meeting.

“He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine.”

A key concern in Europe is that Trump has talked of “land swapping” in a peace deal without giving Zelensky a seat at the table on Friday and without any certainty about long-term security for Europe from Putin’s claims over parts of the continent, such as the Baltic states.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who hosted the meeting, set out a staged approach that would begin with a ceasefire and might lead to discussions about territory.

“We want the correct sequence: first, a ceasefire. This must be at the very beginning. Later, there may be a framework agreement,” he said.

“Third, Ukraine is ready to negotiate on talks and territorial issues, but our starting point is the contact line.”

The remarks signalled a willingness in Ukraine to consider the control of areas such as Luhansk and Donetsk, which Russia controls but Ukraine claims.

“If there is no movement on the Russian side in Alaska, then the United States and we Europeans should ... increase the pressure,” Merz said.

“President Trump knows this position, he shares it very extensively, and therefore I can say: we have had a really exceptionally constructive and good conversation with each other.”

Russian forces have gained ground in the east of Ukraine over the past week and now present a significant threat to the city of Pokrovsk.

The moves extend Russian claims over eastern Ukraine while Merz is suggesting the front line as the starting point on Friday in any negotiations over territory, provided there is a ceasefire first.

While The Times of London reported a plan to split Ukraine in the way Palestinian territory was divided in the Middle East – calling it a “West Bank-style occupation” by Russia – this was denied by the White House.

Putin’s claim over the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the target of a Russian incursion in 2014 and now controlled by the Russian army, appears unlikely to be settled by any formal agreement to cede sovereignty to Russia.

There is scope, however, for an outcome that accepts Russian control of the territory provided there is a ceasefire.

Trump on Wednesday raised the prospect of a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, possibly with the US president, if the talks on Friday went well.

“The first [meeting] is: I’m going to find out where we are and what we’re doing,” he said.

“Certain great things can be gained in the first meeting … but it’s setting the table for the second meeting.”

Trump said that if Friday’s summit went “OK”, then his preference would be to hold a second meeting “almost immediately” afterwards. But he also conceded it might not happen.

“If I feel like it’s not appropriate to have it, because I didn’t get the answers that we have to have, then we’re not going to have a second meeting,” he said.

Asked what would happen if Putin did not agree to stop the war following Friday’s meeting, Trump said there would be “very severe consequences” for Russia, but declined to say what they would entail.

The meeting on Wednesday included leaders from the US, Germany, Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Poland, the European Union and NATO.

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