Location at an overview: response to Alaska summit: Europeans are refraining from their tactics

After the Ukraine summit of US President Donald Trump and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the European heads of state and government want to prevent political decisions at Kiev. A video count from the “coalition of the willing” should take place on Sunday, it said from the Élysée Palace in Paris. This means the allies of Ukraine who would be ready to support a mission of peace. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj wants to travel to Washington to speak to Trump on Monday.

Trump received Putin for a summit in Alaska on Friday and literally rolled out the red carpet of his diplomatically isolated guest – although there is an international arrest warrant for war crimes against Putin. The two of them did not prize specific conversation content afterwards. However, Trump received his previous demand for a ceasefire before any peace negotiations – and thus swung on Putin’s line without the Russian president himself being visible.

From the perspective of the Europeans, the worst scenario, a deal across the head of the Ukrainians, did not become a reality for the time being. But the disillusionment after the intensive agreements in advance – also with Trump – was clearly noticeable. In addition to his host, Putin was once again able to make it clear at the speaker that the basic causes of the conflict should first be eliminated for a stable peace, as he defines them. Trump left the unchallenged – and later emphasized in a TV interview that he advised Selenskyj to agree to a “deal” with the militarily superior attacker.

Putin supposedly demands complete Donbass

The question of possible regional detections that Kyiv strictly rejects has so far strictly rejects. According to US media, Putin is said to have asked for the complete Donbass in the east of Ukraine to strike Russia. Trump passed this demand on to Selenskyj, reported the Bloomberg news agency, the newspaper “New York Times” and the news page “Axios”, citing informed circles. At the moment, Moscow only controls parts of the Donbass.

After the summit, Trump informed the most important European heads of state and government on Saturday morning about his conversation with Putin. Fortunately, Trump did not question a single of the five key points previously defined by the Europeans and Selenskyj, said Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a ZDF interview.

Merz does not exclude territorial concessions

In the meantime, the CDU chairman also believes peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia without prior armistice – provided that an agreement quickly comes. “If this succeeds, it is more value than a ceasefire that may last for weeks – without further progress in the political, diplomatic efforts.”

The switching also dealt with possible territorial concessions to Russia, said Merz. In return for an end to the end of the Russian war of aggression in return, he did not seem to rule out: “No territorial concessions before there is no peace treaty,” outlined Merz in an ARD “focus”. At the latest with such a peace treaty, security guarantees for Ukraine would then have to come into force. Merz described the fact that the United States is also ready to participate in such security guarantees as good news.

However, the Chancellor also had a quiet criticism of the staging of the Alaska summit and the upgrading of Putin. “It was a big protocol. The press in Russia cheers. A little less would have been enough.”

Does Selenskyj’s visit to Trump get back to the fiasco?

As is going on, it is likely to depend significantly on how Selenskyj’s visit to Washington goes – and what demands he is confronted with. In February, his meeting with Trump in the White House was escalating in front of running cameras, so that the Ukrainian had to pull off the uninfected things. As a result, the United States temporarily exposed its military aids that are extremely important for Ukraine.

According to Merz, Selenskyj’s visit should follow a trilateral conversation with Trump and Putin this time, for which there is still no place and time. According to an unconfirmed “Axios” report, the US President let his European interlocutors know that he would strive for such a meeting on Friday.

Merz recommends himself as a role model

Merz does not assume that Selenskyj’s visit in Washington will turn out again this time. The European heads of state and government would “give the Ukrainian president a few good advice beforehand”, the Chancellor told the broadcaster RTL/NTV. “He also saw that my meeting with Donald Trump went very differently than his meeting. We have already talked about it in detail.”