‘Confused’ Ukrainians to meet backers ahead of Putin-Trump summit – Axios
The United Kingdom will host an emergency meeting of senior officials from the United States, Ukraine and several European nations backing Ukraine this weekend in an effort to “reach common positions” ahead of a planned Russia-US top-level summit, Axios has reported.
US President Donald Trump has announced he will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in person next Friday in Alaska. According to Axios, Ukrainian and European officials requested the gathering during a conference call on Friday so that they could “reach common positions” ahead of next week’s talks.
A possible diplomatic breakthrough emerged following a visit to Moscow on Wednesday by Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The outlet reported that Witkoff’s subsequent briefings on the proposed agreement left some parties with conflicting impressions, and officials in Kiev are “confused” about the specifics.
Trump has said the plan involves a form of land swap and that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky would need to find a way to approve it. Officials in Kiev have repeatedly stated that the Ukrainian Constitution prohibits the ceding of territory.
The same basic law also requires a president to transfer power at the end of their term to either a newly elected successor or the parliamentary speaker. Zelensky did neither when his term expired last year, a fact Russia has cited in questioning the legality of any treaty he might sign.
Kiev’s European backers have voiced growing concern that their positions could be sidelined in US-Russia negotiations. Such warnings have recently come from former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, a strong supporter of Ukraine, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a prominent critic of the Western approach.
Moscow has accused European NATO nations sending weapons to Ukraine of undermining peace efforts by encouraging Kiev to prolong a fight it cannot win. This week, Zelensky acknowledged that his country cannot take the Russian territories it claims by force.
