"We need security guarantees that work in practice, like NATO's Article 5: Russia cannot provide them." This was stated by Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, at the end of the videoconference summit held in Brussels on the eve of his meeting with Donald Trump in Washington. "It is essential that Europe be as united today as it was at the beginning, as it was in 2022 when the full-scale war broke out. This unity truly contributes to achieving real peace and must remain strong."
Tomorrow's Washington summit comes just days after Friday's meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin, which took place in Alaska. Zelensky hasn't ruled out the possibility of a trilateral meeting and would be open to it, but there's currently no agreement : "So far, Russia hasn't given any signal that the trilateral meeting will take place, and if Russia refuses, new sanctions will be necessary." Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her hope: "We hope it happens as soon as possible," added the President of the European Commission.
"It's important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees to Ukraine," Zelensky continued. "We are very grateful to the United States and President Trump for this signal, which is important for everyone in Europe. This is a significant change, but there are no details on how it will work and what America's role will be, what Europe's role will be, or what the EU will be able to do. This is our main task. We need security to function in practice like NATO's Article 5, and we consider EU membership an integral part of security guarantees . And we've heard from President Trump that America and Putin think the same way."
For the Kremlin, peace depends on the surrender of Donbass : this is what emerged from Friday's bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin. "But he hasn't managed to achieve it in 12 years, and Ukraine's Constitution makes it impossible to cede or exchange territories ," Zelensky recalled. "Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia within the framework of the trilateral summit." Regarding the ceasefire, von der Leyen emphasized that "the effect must be to stop the killings."
On Truth, Trump wrote: "Great progress on Russia, stay tuned." Giorgia Meloni will also be attending tomorrow's White House summit, about which Zelensky expressed optimism. " We need the United States on our side. And I think President Trump has shared our need for peace . But the steps toward that peace must be fair, correct, to have lasting peace, and that means not having a pause in this world."
(Unioneonline)