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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky could participate in this week’s US-Russia summit in Alaska, America’s ambassador to Nato suggested. Asked whether Zelensky could meet US president Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, ambassador Matthew Whitaker said, “Yes, I certainly think it’s possible. “The decision to invite Zelensky was entirely Trump’s, Whitaker said, adding that “if he thinks that is the best scenario to invite Zelensky, then he will do that”.
However, he dismissed calls from European leaders to allow the Ukrainian president to attend the summit meeting on Friday, saying it would not be “productive” at this point.
European leaders, including Keir Starmer, jointly welcomed the move towards peace on Saturday but warned that any negotiations should see Ukraine represented and they must not permit any land to be ceded to Russia.
The statement came after Trump suggested the deal might involve “some swapping of territories”, an idea Zelensky was quick to reject.
Rutte on Sunday praised Washington for taking steps such as allowing more military equipment to flow to Ukraine and imposing secondary sanctions on India for purchasing Russian oil.
“Next Friday will be important because it will be about testing Putin – how serious he is – on bringing this terrible war to an end,” Mr Rutte said in an interview with ABC’s This Week.
He added: “It will be, of course, about security guarantees, but also about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides on its own future, that Ukraine has to be a sovereign nation, deciding on its own geopolitical future.”
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, now holds nearly a fifth of the country.
Rutte said a future peace deal could not include legal recognition of Russian control over Ukrainian land, although it might include de facto recognition.
He compared it to the situation after the Second World War when the United States accepted that the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were de facto controlled by the Soviet Union but did not legally recognise their annexation.
