WASHINGTON, DC – The United States is working to “schedule” a meeting between Donald Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vice President JD Vance said Sunday, as Ukraine’s European allies push for Kyiv’s presence at the US-Russia summit in Alaska this week.
“One of the most important logjams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, the head of Ukraine, and the president has now got that to change,” Vance said during an interview on Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict,” Vance said when asked about his expectations for the Alaska summit on August 15.
The vice president said the United States was going to “try to find some negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and Russians can live with.”
Vance added: “It’s not going to make anybody super happy, both the Russians and the Ukrainians probably at the end of the day are going to be unhappy with it.”
The planned US-Russia summit in Alaska without Zelenskyy had raised concerns that a deal would require Kyiv to cede swaths of territory, which the European Union has rejected.
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker suggested on CNN that Zelenskyy could attend the summit.
He was asked whether Zelenskyy might join Trump and Putin on Friday.
“Yes, I certainly think it’s possible,” he said. “Certainly, there can’t be a deal that everybody that’s involved in it doesn’t agree to. And, I mean, obviously, it’s a high priority to get this war to end.” AFP
In a flurry of diplomacy, Zelenskyy held calls with 13 counterparts over three days including Kyiv’s main backers Germany, Britain and France.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Sunday he hoped and assumed that Zelensky would attend the summit.
Whitaker said the decision would ultimately be Trump’s to make.
“If he thinks that that is the best scenario to invite Zelenskyy, then he will do that,” he said, adding that “no deci-sion has been made to this point.”
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.
Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said any deal between the United States and Russia to end the war in Ukraine had to include Kyiv and the bloc.
“President Trump is right that Russia has to end its war against Ukraine,” Kallas said in a statement Sunday.
“The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,” she added.
“I will convene an extraordinary meeting of the EU foreign ministers on Monday to discuss our next steps.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga will also take part in the Monday afternoon meeting, the ministry said.
NATO chief Mark Rutte told ABC’s “This Week” broadcast on Sunday that Trump was “putting pressure on Putin”.
“Next Friday will be important because it will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end,” he added.
Ukraine’s military said on Sunday it had taken back a village in the Sumy region from the Russian army, which has made significant recent gains.
The village is on the frontline in the north of the country and about 20 kilometers west of the main fighting be-tween the two armies in the northern region.
A ‘just peace’ – AFP
