Donald Trump meets with European leaders ahead of US-Russia talks, Zelensky warns Putin is ‘bluffing’

US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders from several NATO member nations held virtual talks on Wednesday (local time), just two days before Mr Trump’s scheduled summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Dialling in from The White House, Mr Trump shared a message on Truth Social ahead of the meeting.

“Will be speaking to European Leaders in a short while. They are great people who want to see a deal done,” he wrote.

Mr Trump told reporters it was a “very good call”.

“President Zelensky was on the call. I would rate it a 10, very friendly,” he said.

Mr Trump reportedly told the Europeans that his goal for Friday’s face-to-face meeting with Mr Putin was to obtain a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.

He also agreed that Mr Zelensky had to be involved in any decisions related to territorial concessions and that security guarantees had to be part of the deal, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Territorial questions that fall under Ukraine’s authority cannot be negotiated and will only be negotiated by the President of Ukraine,” Mr Macron said, adding that Mr Trump had “expressed” the same.

Mr Trump also announced that if his highly-critical meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin goes well, he would like to have a second meeting with Mr Putin, Mr Zelensky and himself.

“If the first one goes okay, we’ll have a quick second one,” he told reporters.

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

The US President will meet his Russian counterpart in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday for talks on how to end the three-and-a-half year conflict in Ukraine.

Mr Trump also said that Russia would face consequences if Mr Putin does not agree to stop the war.

“Yes, they will,” he said.

He did not spell out the consequences but he has warned of stiff economic sanctions if no breakthrough can be achieved.

Mr Trump has previously said both sides will have to swap land to end fighting that has cost tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions.

Some European governments worry that a land swap could leave Russia with almost a fifth of Ukraine and embolden Mr Putin to expand further west in the future.

Participants in the call with Mr Trump included leaders from France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Finland as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.

Mr Zelensky said on Wednesday he hoped the Trump-Putin talks will centre on a ceasefire and he warned Mr Trump that Mr Putin was “bluffing” about his desire to end the war.

“I told the US President and all our European colleagues that Putin is bluffing,” he said at a joint briefing in Berlin with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine.”

Mr Zelensky added that he wanted a three-leader meeting, saying no talks about Ukraine should exclude his country’s representatives.

Ms Von der Leyen said that Europe, the United States and the NATO military alliance had strengthened their common ground for Ukraine.

“We have had a very good call,” the European Commission President wrote on X after attending a virtual meeting with Mr Trump, European leaders and Mr Zelensky.

“Today Europe, the US and NATO have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine,” Ms von der Leyen said, adding that “we will remain in close coordination. Nobody wants peace more than us, a just and lasting peace”.

- With Reuters, DPA