Trump floats meeting with Putin, Zelenskyy – DW – 08/13/2025

Germany plans to fund a $500 million (€426 million) package of US-sourced military equipment and munitions for Ukraine, according to a NATO statement published on Wednesday.

This will be carried out under NATO’s new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte applauded Germany for the decision.

“I commend Germany for stepping up once again. This delivery will help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression,” said the NATO chief.

After the US, Germany is the largest military backer of Ukraine.

“Germany is the largest European contributor of military aid to Ukraine, and today’s announcement further underlines its commitment to help the Ukrainian people defend their freedom and sovereignty,” Rutte added.

US President Donald Trump said that if the Alaska meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin goes okay, “we’ll have a quick second meeting.”

“I would like to do it almost immediately, And we’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they’d like to have me there,” Trump added.

He also said there may be a second meeting.

“If I feel that it’s not appropriate to have it, because I didn’t get the answers that we have to have, then we’re not going to have a second meeting,” said Trump.

He also said after his talks with the Russian leader, he would call Zelenskyy and European leaders to debrief.

The US president stressed that if Putin doesn’t agree to stop the war after Friday’s summit, there will be “very severe consequences.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that military plans to support Ukraine are ready to be implemented in the event of a ceasefire in its war with Russia.

The military plans “are now ready in a form that can be used if we get to that ceasefire,” Starmer said at the the virtual meeting between the Coalition of the Willing, an alliance supporting Ukraine.

Starmer added that, in an earlier teleconference with US President Donald Trump, they had made “real progress” on security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure a lasting peace.

The British leader also said that there is now a “viable” chance for a Ukraine ceasefire due to Trump’s work.

“For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near… a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer told European leaders. 

“Now we do have that chance because of the work that the (US) president has put in,” he added.

“The next few days and weeks can be decisive” in the Ukraine peace process, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb posted on X Wednesday after virtual calls between European leaders and US President Donald Trump. 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Ukraine’s European allies have agreed on five main requirements for a peace deal with Russia.

“We want President Donald Trump to be successful in Anchorage on Friday,” Merz said following the virtual call he organized ahead of Trump’s Alaska summit with Putin.

“We want negotiations to take place in the right order,” said Merz, alongside the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.

Merz stressed that the ceasefire must be the starting point. Essential elements should then be agreed in a framework agreement, he added.

Thirdly, Merz said, “Ukraine is ready to negotiate on territorial issues.”

He added, “However, the so-called line of contact must be the starting point and legal recognition of Russian occupation is out of the question. The principle that borders may not be changed by force must continue to apply.”

Fourthly, Merz called for “robust security guarantees for Kyiv” and for Ukraine’s ability to defend itself to be maintained.

Lastly, any future negotiations must be part of “a common trans-Atlantic strategy,” he added.

Speaking to American soldiers at a military base in England, US Vice President JD Vance said President Donald Trump told him that his mission was “to bring peace to Europe once again.”

“I just talked to him right before I came on the stage, and he said very simply that we are going to make it our mission as an administration to bring peace to Europe once again,” Vance said after attending a virtual call with Trump and European leaders.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders that his country’s support for Kyiv is “unwavering,” according to the UK readout from the call issued from Starmer’s Downing Street office.

“International borders must not be changed by force and Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to defend its territorial integrity as part of any deal,” it added.

The virtual call, which also included leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, NATO and the European Union, took place two days ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.

Following the teleconference with US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Trump was “very clear” that the US wants to achieve a ceasefire at the Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The second point on which things were very clear, as expressed by President Trump, is that territories belonging to Ukraine cannot be negotiated and will only be negotiated by the Ukrainian president,” Macron told reporters.

Following his meeting with the Russian leader, Trump will also push for a future trilateral meeting — one involving Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy, according to Macron.

The French president said that he hoped such a meeting could be held in Europe “in a neutral country that is acceptable to all parties.”

“There are currently no serious territorial exchange schemes on the table,” Macron added.

Following a virtual summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe, the United States 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,” von der Leyen wrote on X. 

Europe and the United States are united in bringing an end to “this terrible war” in Ukraine, said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“Appreciate Trump’s leadership and close coordination with Allies. The ball is now in Putin’s court,” Rutte posted on X following the “great” call with US President Donald Trump and European leaders. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that “there can be no discussions about Ukraine without Ukraine.” 

At the joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Zelenskyy added that his country wants strong security guarantees and that US President Donald Trump supports this.

He also asserted that there should be more pressure on Russia, as Putin is “bluffing” when he says the sanctions are not working.

Zelenskyy also said that Trump assured him he would contact him after the meeting with Putin to discuss the results and next steps.

“A ceasefire must come first in any agreement,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin after the teleconference with US President Donald Trump.

Merz added that a legal recognition of Russian ownership of Ukraine cannot happen.

He also said if there is no movement from Russia towards peace, “the US and the Europeans need to increase the pressure.”

“We wish President Trump all the best,” Merz said, adding that leaders will talk to Trump following his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Merz and Zelenskyy will now head into a video call between members of the Coalition of the Willing, a loose partnership of some 30 countries supporting Ukraine, led by the United Kingdom and France, on the outcome of the discussions with Trump.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders have begun talks via video link with US President Donald Trump about his upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We’ll bring you the latest updates as we get them.

As we wait for details on the talks, here’s where things stand on the front line in Ukraine:

The Russian army on Wednesday said it had captured two villages near the coal-mining town of Dobropillia — around 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the key strategic city of Pokrovsk.

“The settlements of Suvorovo and Nikanorivka in the Donetsk People’s Republic have been liberated,”  Russia’s Defence Ministry said on social media, referring to Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

Moscow has made rapid gains in the area in recent days.

Russia currently controls 114,500 square kilometers (44,600 square miles), or 19%, of Ukraine, including all of Crimea, all of Luhansk, and more than 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has arranged a series of virtual meetings in an attempt to have the voice of Europe and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy heard ahead of the summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Here is what is happening this afternoon:

• Merz and Zelenskyy are holding bilateral talks at the Chancellery in Berlin over lunch
• Following their lunch, Merz and Zelenskyy are due to hold online discussions with the leaders of France, Britain, Italy, Poland and Finland as well as the heads of the European Union and NATO
• They will then have a video call with US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance
• Merz and Zelenskyy are due to address a media conference, but won’t take any questions from reporters
• The so-called coalition of the willing, Ukraine’s military European backers, including Germany, France and the UK, will also hold discussions