{"id":160247,"date":"2025-08-11T06:26:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T06:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-us-envoy-suggests-possible-zelensky-role-in-trump-putin-alaska-meeting-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T06:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T06:26:52","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-latest-us-envoy-suggests-possible-zelensky-role-in-trump-putin-alaska-meeting-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-us-envoy-suggests-possible-zelensky-role-in-trump-putin-alaska-meeting-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war latest: US envoy suggests possible Zelensky role in Trump-Putin Alaska meeting – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nato ambassador says decision to invite Ukrainian leader to summit entirely Trump’s
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> could participate in this week\u2019s US-Russia<\/a> summit in Alaska<\/a>, America’s ambassador to Nato suggested.
Asked whether Zelensky could meet US president Donald Trump<\/a> and Russian leader Vladimir Putin<\/a>, ambassador Matthew Whitaker<\/a> said, \u201cYes, I certainly think it\u2019s possible.
“The decision to invite Zelensky was entirely Trump\u2019s, Whitaker said, adding that \u201cif he thinks that is the best scenario to invite Zelensky, then he will do that”.
US vice president JD Vance<\/a> earlier said Putin<\/a> and Zelensky<\/a> would be \u201cforced\u201d to meet by Trump<\/a>.
However, he dismissed calls from European leaders to allow the Ukrainian president<\/a> to attend the summit meeting <\/a>on Friday, saying it would not be \u201cproductive\u201d at this point.
European leaders, including Keir Starmer, jointly welcomed<\/a> the move towards peace on Saturday but warned that any negotiations should see Ukraine<\/a> represented and they must not permit any land to be ceded to Russia<\/a>.
The statement came after Trump<\/a> suggested the deal might involve \u201csome swapping of territories\u201d, an idea Zelensky<\/a> was quick to reject.
One person was killed and two others were hospitalised following a Ukrainian attack targeting an industrial zone in the Nizhny Novgorod region in western Russia, Gleb Nikitin, the governor of the region, said on the Telegram.
Earlier, Tula governor Dmitry Milyaev said at least two people died and two people were hospitalised in the Tula region as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack that also targeted Moscow and other regions.
Russian air defence units destroyed a total of 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 12 over the Tula region and two over the Moscow region. The ministry only reports how many drones its units down, not how many Ukraine launches.
Nato\u2019s secretary general Mark Rutte has said Donald Trump is \u201cclearly putting pressure on\u201d Vladimir Putin ahead of the two leaders\u2019 upcoming summit.
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 \u2013 how serious he is \u2013 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.
JD Vance told Fox News that US president Donald Trump \u201chas to be the one to bring these two together\u201d, before criticising Europe for not \u201cstepping up\u201d.
He said: \u201cWhat we said to the Europeans is simply: this is in your neck of the woods, this is in your back door. You guys have gotta step up and take a bigger role in this thing. And if you care so much about this conflict, you should be willing to play a more direct and substantial way in funding this war yourself.
\u201cI think the president, and I certainly think that America, we\u2019re done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We wanna bring about a peaceful settlement of this thing, we wanna stop the killing.\u201d
The leaders of eight Nordic-Baltic nations jointly reaffirmed their support for Ukraine and said that peace could only come through consistent pressure being put on the Russian federation to halt its “unlawful” war.
The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden said in a statement yesterday that they “reaffirm the principle that international borders must not be changed by force”.
They added that they would continue to uphold and impose restrictive measures against the Russian Federation.
US president Donald Trump said on Friday he will meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin on 15 August in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war. A White House official has said Trump is open to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky attending but preparations are underway only for a bilateral meeting.
Russian commentators and officials bragged about the perceived coup of Vladimir Putin getting a summit in Alaska Friday with President Donald Trump over a potential Ukraine War ceasefire.<\/a>
It\u2019s the first time that a Russian leader has been invited to American soil outside of the United Nations since 2007, and comes without the Kremlin having made any apparent concessions amid its war of aggression in Ukraine.<\/a>
Just days before the summit was announced, Trump was sharing his anger at Putin\u2019s consistent bombing of Ukraine and threatened to increase sanctions on Russia. The sudden decision to meet with the Russian leader prompted European and Ukrainian officials to scramble to respond to the new arrangement.<\/a>
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hopes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be involved at the Russia-US summit.
Mr Merz said he will have a call with US president Donald Trump on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
\u201cWe are preparing intensively at the European level together with the US government for this meeting,\u201d Mr Merz said.
\u201cAnd we hope and assume that the Ukrainian government and president Zelensky will be involved in this meeting.”
Mr Zelensky won diplomatic backing from Europe and the Nato alliance on Sunday ahead of a Russia-US summit this week where Kyiv fears Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump may try to dictate terms for ending the three-and-a-half-year war.
“We cannot accept that territorial issues are decided between Russia and America over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians,” Mr Merz said.
He added that there can be no peace that rewards Russia\u2019s aggressive actions and possibly encourages and emboldens further actions.
At least two people died in the Tula region as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack that also targeted Moscow and other regions, Russia’s defence ministry and regional officials said late last night.
Two people were also hospitalised following the attack on Tula , governor Dmitry Milyaev said.
The defence ministry said its air defence units destroyed 27 Ukrainian drones within a span of three hours late on Sunday, including 11 over the Tula region, one over the Moscow region and the rest over four other regions in Russia’s south and west.
US President Donald Trump has signalled that Ukraine might have to give up territory to end the war with Russia<\/a> as he prepares to meet Vladimir Putin for peace talks.<\/a>
Announcing the talks with the Russian president, set to take place in Alaska on Friday<\/a>, Mr Trump said: \u201cThere will be some swapping of territories\u201d.<\/a>
The White House is reportedly trying to sway European leaders to accept an agreement that would include Russia taking the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and keeping Crimea. In exchange, it would give up the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, areas which Russia is partially occupying, CBS reported.
But in a statement on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea<\/a>, saying that \u201cUkrainians will not give their land to the occupier\u201d.
Tom Watling<\/em><\/strong> and Holly Bancroft<\/em><\/strong> report:
US<\/a> vice-president JD Vance says Europe must spend more on Ukraine<\/a> as he warned that America is \u201cdone with the funding of the war\u201d. He also vowed that Vladimir Putin<\/a> and Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> will be forced to meet by Donald Trump<\/a>.
Mr Vance, in a wide-ranging interview on Fox News, went on to dismiss European<\/a> leaders\u2019 calls to allow the Ukrainian president <\/a>to attend the upcoming summit between the US and Russian leaders<\/a>, insisting that it would not be \u201cproductive\u201d at this point.
On Saturday, European<\/a> leaders including Sir Keir Starmer jointly welcomed the meeting, which is planned for Friday in Alaska. However, they warned that any talks should see Ukraine represented and not permit any land<\/a> to be ceded to Russia<\/a>.
Their statement came after Mr Trump admitted the deal may involve \u201csome swapping of territories\u201d \u2013 a suggestion Mr Zelensky strongly rejected.
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