European leaders make last-ditch appeal to Trump ahead of Alaska summit

US President warns of 'severe consequences' for Russia if ceasefire not reached

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Getty Images

The leaders of several European nations and the EU held a “constructive” meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday, ahead of which the US President said there would be "severe consequences" for Russia if it failed to reach a ceasefire with Ukraine.

Europe is eager to show a united front to help avoid a bad outcome for Ukraine from a meeting between Mr Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week.

In a joint statement, the "coalition of the willing", as the group has been named, said no peace agreement can be decided without Ukraine, and that sanctions and other economic measures should be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire.

InterviewTrump-Putin talks need Ukraine’s presence, says EU foreign policy chief

Watch Now

The statement added that international borders must not be changed by force, and that Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to "effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity". It added that Russia cannot have veto power over Ukraine‘s pathway to the EU and Nato.

Mr Trump later described the call as “very good … I would rate it at 10, very, very friendly”. He added that an upcoming meeting between himself and Mr Putin could be followed by a trilateral meeting that would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mr Zelenskyy said after the call that he had told Mr Trump that Mr Putin was “bluffing”. At a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Mr Zelenskyy said: “Putin is bluffing – he is trying to push forward along the whole front.

“Putin is also bluffing saying he doesn't care about the sanctions and that they're not working,” he told reporters. “In reality, the sanctions are very effective, and they're hurting the Russian military economy.”

Mr Merz described the meeting as “constructive”, while the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that “Europe, the US and Nato have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine”.

Co-chairing a meeting of the coalition of the willing – a European-led effort to prepare a peacekeeping force to monitor any potential ceasefire in Ukraine – the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “This meeting on Friday that President Trump is attending is hugely important.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz attend a video conference of European leaders with the US President on the Ukraine war. Getty Images

“As I’ve said firstly to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven’t got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire. And now we have that chance, because of the work of the President.”

In a readout of the call on Wednesday, a No 10 representative said: “The Prime Minister was clear that our support for Ukraine is unwavering … and Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to defend its territorial integrity as part of any deal.”

The call came two days before a Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska on Friday – the first US-Russia summit since 2021.

Mr Trump said that he would be calling Mr Zelenskyy and other European leaders after his meeting with Mr Putin. He added that there was a “good chance that we're going to have a second meeting which will be more productive than the first, because the first is I'm going to find out where we are and what we're doing”.

“I would say the second meeting, if the first one goes OK, we'll have a quick second one. I would like to do it almost immediately, and we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself,” he told reporters.

The US President said Russia will face “very severe consequences” if it does not end the wars soon. He declined to say if the consequences would take the form of sanctions or secondary tariffs.

The leaders of Germany, Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland and the European Union, as well as the Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, kicked off the call together before they were joined by Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

After the call, the French President Emmanuel Macron addressed European concerns over comments by Mr Trump in which he said that any deal would involve “some swapping of territories”. It is unclear what territories Mr Putin might be expected to surrender.

“There are no serious territorial exchange schemes on the table,” Mr Macron said. “There was no substantial discussion at any level on territorial swaps.”

Later in the day, wider partners in the region were to be updated by Germany, France and the UK on the day's discussions in a format known as the “coalition of the willing”.

The coalition of the willing is an international effort to support Ukraine towards a lasting peace, led by the UK, France and Germany. It is made up of 31 countries that have pledged strengthened support for Ukraine, including 27 European countries, as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Mr Trump has said the Alaska talks will be a “feel-out” meeting as he pursues a ceasefire in Russia's war on Ukraine.

Traditional Russian wooden nesting dolls depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump displayed for sale at a gift shop in Moscow ahead of a Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska. AFP

The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Mr Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia's energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favourable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them. European countries’ overarching fear is that Mr Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.

“Most European leaders recognise the summit’s high stakes and risks – hence this week’s diplomatic flurry, including today’s pre-summit virtual meeting between EU leaders, Trump, and Zelenskyy,” said Jana Kobzova, senior policy fellow at the ECFR think tank. “Europe’s future hinges on whether Ukraine becomes stable and prosperous (even without full territorial control) or remains a weak, unstable state vulnerable to Russian attacks.”

Before Wednesday’s call, Mr Starmer spoke to his Dutch counterpart Dick Schoof and agreed that “there should be no decisions about the future of Ukraine without Ukraine”.

“They discussed their sustained support for Ukraine and the ongoing work to end Russia’s barbaric war,” a UK government representative said. Meanwhile, Mr Vance, who is on holiday in the UK, is set to meet US troops stationed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

Sara Ruthven contributed to this report from Washington