US pledged to consult Europe ahead of Trump-Putin summit, Polish prime minister says
The U.S. has promised to coordinate with its European partners before the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Aug. 11, according to the Guardian.
The talks, planned for Aug. 15 in Alaska, will be the first in-person meeting between Trump and Putin since Trump's return to office. Ukraine's participation remains unclear, raising concerns in Kyiv and across Europe.
Tusk said he holds "lots of fears and lots of hope" about the meeting, noting Trump's "tactic… of unpredictability at times, when it comes to various moves and actions."
European leaders have been seeking direct talks with Trump ahead of the summit, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 10, citing people familiar with the matter.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance met with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London on Aug. 9, and EU ambassadors were briefed on the matter the following day. The EU's foreign ministers were set to hold a virtual meeting on Aug. 11.
Trump has told European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelensky that Putin is open to negotiations if "land swaps" are part of the deal, Bloomberg reported earlier.
Though it remains unclear what such a deal would entail, a source in Ukraine's Presidential Office told the Kyiv Independent that Moscow seeks Kyiv's full withdrawal from partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the east while offering to withdraw its forces from the limited areas it holds in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts.
Russia occupies roughly 20% of Ukraine's territory, including areas it has held since 2014 – Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In 2022, Moscow illegally declared the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts following sham referenda.
Putin has publicly demanded that Ukraine renounce NATO membership, withdraw troops from all four occupied regions, and hand over several major cities still under Ukrainian control.
Moscow reiterated these demands during the May Istanbul peace talks and once more in the July third round of talks, which concluded in less than an hour.
Zelensky has repeatedly rejected any preconditions involving formally ceding Ukrainian territory. In his Aug. 9 evening address, he warned that a settlement lacking "genuine peace" would allow Russia to regroup and attack again.
Tusk warned that safeguarding Ukraine's territorial integrity is "not just a matter of solidarity with our neighbor, but also of our own security."
