Zelenskiy in Berlin for online meeting with Trump, European leaders

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Berlin today (13 August) for a German-hosted virtual meeting with Donald Trump and European leaders, two days before the US president meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Europe's leaders are trying to drive home the perils of selling out Kyiv's interests at the first US-Russia summit since 2021.

Trump has said the Alaska talks will be a "feel-out" meeting as he pursues a ceasefire in Moscow's war on Ukraine, having said last week, to consternation in Kyiv and Europe, that any deal would involve "some swapping of territories".

Zelenskiy shook hands with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz before disappearing into bilateral talks.

The two men will take part in a video conference with the leaders of Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Poland and the European Union at 2pm (1200 GMT).

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will also attend. Trump and Vice President JD Vance will join the call at 3pm (1300 GMT).

"Will be speaking to European Leaders in a short while. They are great people who want to see a deal done," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Europe and Kyiv fear unfavourable Alaska deal

The unpredictability of the summit in Alaska has fuelled Europeans' fears that the US and Russia could take far-reaching decisions over their heads and even seek to coerce Ukraine into an unfavourable deal.

"We are focusing now to ensure that it does not happen - engaging with US partners and staying coordinated and united on the European side," said one senior official from Eastern Europe.

Wary of angering Trump, European leaders have repeatedly said they welcome his efforts while stressing that there should be no deal about Ukraine - almost a fifth of which Russia has occupied - without Ukraine's participation.

Trump's administration tempered expectations yesterday (12 August), telling reporters the summit would be a "listening exercise" for him to hear what it would take to get to a deal.

Trump's agreement last week to the summit was an abrupt shift after weeks of voicing frustration with Putin for resisting the US peace initiative. Trump said his envoy had made "great progress" at talks in Moscow.

Half a dozen senior European officials told Reuters that they see a risk of a deal being struck that is unfavourable for Europe and Ukraine's security. They said European unity would be vital if that happened.

After the meeting with Trump, the "coalition of the willing", a group of countries working on plans to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, will also convene online.

Battlefield pressure mounts on Ukraine

A Gallup poll released last week found that 69% of Ukrainians favour a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible. But polls also indicate Ukrainians do not want peace at any cost if that means crushing concessions.

Ahead of the calls, Zelenskiy said it would be impossible for Kyiv to agree to a deal that would require it to withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region, a large swathe of which is already occupied by Russia.

That, he told reporters on Tuesday, would deprive Ukraine of a vast defensive network in the region, easing the way for a Russian push deeper into Ukraine in the future.

He said territorial issues could only be discussed once a ceasefire was in place and Ukraine had received security guarantees.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexei Fadeev said Moscow's stance had not changed since it was set out by Putin in June 2024.

As preconditions for a ceasefire and the start of negotiations, the Kremlin leader had demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from four regions that Russia has claimed as its own but does not fully control, and formally renounce its plans to join NATO.

Kyiv swiftly rejected the conditions as tantamount to surrender.