BERLIN, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hosted a series of virtual meetings with international partners on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
Joined by other European leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump, the talks aim to find a coordinated stance on the Ukraine crisis.
The objective for the European leaders was to present a united front and convey their terms to Trump ahead of his meeting with Putin.
EUROPEAN INTERESTS
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that the talks with Trump "strengthened the common ground for Ukraine" among Europe, the United States and NATO.
Merz, standing alongside Zelensky in Berlin, stressed after the virtual meeting that fundamental European and Ukrainian security interests must be preserved in Alaska.
It was the message conveyed to Trump during Wednesday's meeting, said Merz.
He said Ukraine must have a seat at the table in any follow-up meetings and a ceasefire must be the start of negotiations.
Ukraine is prepared to negotiate on territorial issues, but the "contact line" must be the starting point, Merz said, adding that a legal recognition of occupations is not up for debate.
Multiple U.S. media outlets, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported that Trump told European leaders during the virtual meeting that he does not intend to discuss territory with Putin this Friday and that the United States could offer security guarantees to Ukraine under certain conditions.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that "territorial issues concerning Ukraine can only be negotiated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky."
Speaking to the press with European Council President Antonio Costa, Macron stressed that "the United States wants to achieve a ceasefire" in Ukraine and that "to date, no serious territorial exchange plan is on the table."
He noted that Trump is also planning a "trilateral" meeting with Putin and Zelensky.
Peace cannot be achieved without the parties directly involved, Russians and Ukrainians, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday, adding that the EU must participate in the negotiations.
WORRIES GROW
Security and political analysts across Europe offered a pessimistic outlook for the Alaska summit, citing possible risks.
Peter Wijninga, a defense expert at the Dutch Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, warned that the Alaska summit, excluding both Ukraine and the EU, exposes deep divisions between Europe and the United States over the Ukraine crisis.
European leaders fear that Trump could strike a deal possibly involving the annexation of parts of Ukrainian territory, which would directly violate the Ukrainian constitution, he said in an interview with Dutch public broadcaster NPO Radio.
As the worry about a one-sided deal grows across Europe, the U.S. side has been downplaying the summit.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has relegated the summit to a "listening exercise" where Trump will get a "better understanding" of the situation.
Neil Melvin, director of International Security at the Royal United Services Institute, noted that European leaders have been "relegated to the margins" ahead of the Alaska summit.
"European leaders are able to inform Trump of their ideas, and the U.S. will brief them on the summit outcomes, but Europe is in the position that the Ukraine conflict outcomes are being negotiated over its head and the continent's leadership is essentially an observer," he added.
GUARDED EXPECTATIONS
European allies of Ukraine will have to wait and see what comes out of the meeting in Alaska.
It seems that there is a lot of background work going on across the Atlantic and in Europe to have some input into Trump's discussions with Putin, said political scientist Stefan Wolff, a specialist in international security at the University of Birmingham.
There are two possible deals Trump could make. A deal with Putin on a ceasefire for Ukraine or a deal resetting relations between Russia and the United States, said Wolff. "I think he is interested in both, but does not see them as mutually exclusive or mutually constitutive."
Overall, Europe's expectations for a concrete breakthrough were low.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told Swedish Television late Tuesday that she was "not very optimistic" about the upcoming Alaska summit.
"It is important that European interests are taken into account in the Trump-Putin meeting," she said.
If there is no movement on the Russian side in Alaska, "then the United States and we Europeans should and must increase the pressure," Merz said at Wednesday's press conference. ■
