{"id":337858,"date":"2025-08-12T07:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T07:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/337858\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T07:26:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T07:26:10","slug":"eu-leaders-say-ukraine-should-have-freedom-to-decide-its-future-ahead-of-trump-putin-summit-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/337858\/","title":{"rendered":"EU leaders say Ukraine should have freedom to decide its future ahead of Trump-Putin summit | Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

All but one of the European heads of state and government have said that Ukrainians must have the freedom to decide their future, ahead of a high-stakes summit<\/a> between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,\u201d the leaders said, adding that \u201cwe share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine\u2019s and Europe\u2019s vital security interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement, which was agreed late on Monday and published on Tuesday, was endorsed by leaders of all EU member countries except Hungary.<\/p>\n

Europeans are attempting to exert some influence over the Friday meeting that they have been sidelined from. It remains unclear whether even Ukraine will take part. On Monday, Trump confirmed that he and the Russian president would discuss \u201cland swapping\u201d when they meet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe<\/a> since 1945, might secure favourable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s statement was also meant to be a demonstration of European unity. However, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who is Putin\u2019s closest ally in Europe and has tried to block EU support for Ukraine<\/a>, did not endorse it, the only one of the 27 leaders who refused to do so.<\/p>\n

In the statement early on Tuesday, the leaders said they \u201cwelcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine\u201d. But, they underlined, \u201cthe path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA just and lasting peace that brings stability and security must respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and that international borders must not be changed by force,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy has rejected the idea that Ukraine must commit to give up land to secure a ceasefire. Russia holds shaky control over four of the country\u2019s regions, two in the country\u2019s east and two in the south.<\/p>\n

Trump, usually fond of boasting of his deal-making skills, played down the possibility of a breakthrough in Alaska but said he expected \u201cconstructive conversations\u201d with Putin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really a feel-out meeting a little bit,\u201d Trump told reporters at the White House. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see what he has in mind and if it\u2019s a fair deal, I\u2019ll reveal it to the European Union<\/a> leaders and to Nato leaders and also to President Zelensky,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI may say \u2013 lots of luck, keep fighting. Or I may say, we can make a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump was also critical of Zelenskyy on Monday, noting that Ukraine\u2019s leader had been in power for the duration of the war and said \u201cnothing happened\u201d during that time.<\/p>\n

Europeans leaders will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine\u2019s cause on Wednesday at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part, but he did say: \u201cI\u2019m going to get everybody\u2019s ideas\u201d before meeting with Putin.<\/p>\n

With Reuters and the Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All but one of the European heads of state and government have said that Ukrainians must have the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-337858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115014610942511678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}