In a joint statement, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and the European Commission said Ukraine alone must decide its future. Their declaration came ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the joint position, saying Kyiv “values and fully supports” efforts to achieve peace while protecting Ukrainian and European interests. He said the end of the war must be fair, and thanked the European leaders for their united approach.

A White House official has said Trump is open to a three-way summit involving Mr Zelenskyy, but for now it remains a Trump–Putin meeting, as requested by Moscow.

Zelenskyy has warned that agreements made without Kyiv will be “dead decisions”. He rejected Mr Trump’s suggestion that there could be a “swapping of territories” to reach a deal.

U.S. media reports suggest the White House has explored a proposal allowing Russia to take the entire Donbas region and keep Crimea. European leaders have pushed back, saying borders must not be changed by force.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron also cautioned against any U.S.–Russia deal that sidelines Europe, saying Europeans “will necessarily be part of the solution, as their own security is at stake”.

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance met UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and two of Zelenskyy’s top aides in London on Saturday. Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said a lasting peace is only possible with Kyiv at the table.

The Alaska meeting will be the first between sitting U.S. and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in 2021. Nine months later, Russia launched its full-scale war, later declaring the annexation of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Moscow still holds swathes of Ukraine’s east, but has failed to secure a decisive breakthrough. Ukrainian offensives have also fallen short of forcing a Russian retreat.

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