Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders have been speaking to Donald Trump at a virtual meeting today ahead of Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin on Friday. Zelenskyy and German leader Friedrich Merz have just given a news conference about the call. Follow the latest updates below.
Wednesday 13 August 2025 16:40, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
EU leaders have been reacting to today’s talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, ahead of the US leader’s summit with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb<\/b> said the next few days and weeks could be decisive in the Ukraine peace process.
Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki’s<\/b> foreign policy adviser said a final resolution on the Ukraine war must come with the involvement of Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen<\/b> said it was a “very good call”.
“Today Europe, the US and NATO have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine.
“We will remain in close coordination. Nobody wants peace more than us, a just and lasting peace.”<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer is chairing a meeting of the “coalition of the willing”, a group of countries prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
Opening the meeting, he said a “military plan” is ready to do so once a ceasefire is agreed.
The Trump-Putin summit on Friday is “hugely important”, he added.
“For three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on and we haven’t got anywhere near the prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire – and now we do have that chance because of the work that the president has put in.”
Nothing is guaranteed from the meeting in Alaska on Friday, Starmer added, but said the “coalition of the willing” is ready to deploy a “reassurance force” when the moment arises, or impose sanctions where needed.
Ahead of the meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Donald Trump joined a meeting with European leaders.
According to the German chancellor, the European side set out five principles to the US president ahead of the talks.
Those are:
Friedrich Merz added that if there is “no movement on the Russian side” during the talks in Alaska on Friday, then “the US and Europeans need to increase the pressure”.
A “coalition of the willing” meeting is now taking place, Sky News understands.
The term refers to those nations who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv.
The meeting is chaired by Keir Starmer, who has led efforts in this area with French President Emmanuel Macron.
German Chancellor Merz says Europe knows that Ukraine “needs security guarantees” and “that we will have to support the Ukrainian army to defend their country”.
Details of these guarantees weren’t discussed today with Donald Trump but that will have to follow “once the way towards peace has been opened”, he says.
While taking questions, Volodymyr Zelenskyy added: “It seems to me that the success of any talks depends first of all on the results and the mood and our mood now is that we are united and it was very positive.”
He added that all the partners expressed “the same vision and this is an important step forward”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asked whether his position on surrendering the eastern Donbas region had changed following today’s negotiations.
Vladimir Putin reportedly wants control of the region in exchange for any ceasefire.
Zelenskyy said his “position hasn’t changed because it’s based on the Ukrainian constitution and the Ukrainian constitution hasn’t changed”.
He adds: “Any questions concerning our country’s territorial integrity cannot be discussed without regard for our people, for the will of our people and the Ukrainian constitution”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy opens his comments by thanking the German chancellor for hosting him for the meeting today, and for Germany’s wider contribution to Ukrainian security.
He says all the leaders who met today wanted “peace in Ukraine, peace in Europe”.
They agreed on a set of principles ahead of Donald Trump’s talks with Vladimir Putin on Friday, he explains, and emphasises: “What concerns Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine.”
He goes on to say that Trump supports a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine, and adds: “Russia should not have the right to veto Ukraine’s NATO prospects.”
“There should joint pressure on Russia, there should be sanctions, and there should be a message that if Russia doesn’t agree to a ceasefire in Alaska, this principle should work,” he says.
Zelenskyy goes on to say that he told Trump and European leaders that “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 says.
“In reality, the sanctions are very effective, and they’re hurting the Russian military economy.”
Zelenskyy goes on to say that he also said in the meeting that “Putin doesn’t want peace – he wants to occupy our country”.
He calls for US and European sanctions, saying they are a crucial was to “stop Putin’s war”.
On the Trump-Putin meeting, he adds: “We hope that the central theme will be a ceasefire. The United States president said this several times.
“He proposed to me that after the meeting in Alaska, we’ll have contact and discuss all the results, if they are achieved, and we’ll define future steps.”
Opening the news conference, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he is “very happy” that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could join him so they could do the video call with European leaders and Donald Trump.
He says it is fitting that the call took place today, on 13 August, because the Berlin Wall construction began on that date in 1961.
“So now, 64 years later, we know it was a symbol of the European, of the German split, partition – and we were able to overcome this separation,” Merz says.
But Russia’s war in Ukraine has “opened the wounds of European separation again”.
He goes on to say that Trump will be meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, where “important decisions might be taken”.
“Us Europeans therefore do what we can to set the course for this meeting in the right way,” he says, adding that he hopes for Trump’s success.
Turning to the meeting with European leaders and Trump that just ended, Merz explains that they “looked in detail” at the various details, and they will continue discussions in the Coalition of the Willing meeting, due to begin shortly.
The message to Trump was that Ukrainian and European security interests “need to be guaranteed”, and they “agreed” on the objectives of the talks with Putin.
He goes on to say that they made clear to Trump that Ukraine must be at the table for any future meetings, a ceasefire must come ahead of the start of the negotiations, recognising Russian-occupied territory is not on the table, Ukrainian forces must be free to defend their country, and wider negotiations must be part of a “transatlantic strategy”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are holding a news conference in Berlin.
Zelenskyy was scheduled to take part in talks with Merz and other European leaders earlier, followed by talks with Donald Trump and US vice president JD Vance.
We’ll be bringing you all the key updates here, and you can watch along live at the top of the page.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said US President Donald Trump is seeking a ceasefire when he meets his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on Friday.
Be the first to get Breaking News<\/span>
Install the Sky News app for free<\/p>\n