The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed ways to achieve a “just peace” in Ukraine on Monday and mapped out diplomatic steps planned for this week, Yermak reported on his Telegram channel, ahead of the meeting on Friday in Alaska this week between US President Donald Trump and Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin.
“I spoke with U.S. Secretary of State and Acting U.S. National Security Advisor Marco Rubio. I informed him about active communication with our partners, in particular during my meeting with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance. We coordinated positions ahead of important diplomatic steps planned for this week,” Yermak wrote.
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President Volodomyr Zelensky has insisted that the priority for the forum is “a just and lasting peace,” which he said requires an unconditional ceasefire as a prerequisite for substantive negotiations, as well as increased pressure on Russia to take real steps in this direction, Yermak said.
Yermak also thanked Trump, Rubio, and the American presidential envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, for their desire to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Trump intends to meet with Putin in Alaska on August 15.
Europe’s “coalition of the willing,” a group of countries ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the case of a ceasefire, will also meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss strategy ahead of the summit. They have invited Trump to the call.
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Azeri President Ilham Aliyev also allocated an additional $2 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine on Monday after a weekend call with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump has not yet confirmed whether he has accepted the invitation for the call, though he promised he was “going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting Putin.
The announcement follows a virtual meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday afternoon to discuss the upcoming bilateral summit between the Russian and US presidents scheduled for Friday in Alaska.
Ukraine and the European Union have insisted that Kyiv and Europe must be involved in any deal to end the war in Ukraine and are adamant that Trump and Putin cannot decide to concede Ukrainian land behind their backs, state media Ukrinform wrote.