Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin on Thursday, welcomed at the Federal Chancellery by German opposition leader Friedrich Merz. The leaders are scheduled for afternoon video conferences, first with European leaders and later with US President Donald Trump. A further late-afternoon call with the so-called “coalition of the willing” format is also planned.
Trump, previewing his talks with European leaders on his social media platform Truth Social, wrote: “I will be speaking to the European leaders shortly. They are great people who want to see a deal made” regarding the war in Ukraine. He also addressed media criticism of his upcoming meeting with Putin, stating: “The media is being very unfair on my meeting with Putin. They quote fired losers and stupid people like John Bolton, who said that despite the meeting being on American soil, ‘Putin has already won’. What is he talking about? We are winning on everything.”
CNN reports the Trump-Putin meeting will occur at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, less than ten kilometers from Anchorage, Alaska. The base was selected as the only facility in Alaska meeting necessary security requirements, despite White House concerns about the optics of hosting the Russian leader on a US military installation. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously stated only that the meeting would be in Anchorage.
The Alaska location followed protracted negotiations, significantly constrained by the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Putin. Russia ruled out a European venue, despite traditional locations like Geneva and Vienna. Moscow reportedly considered the United Arab Emirates, but the White House opposed another lengthy Middle East trip. Potential sites were ultimately narrowed to Hungary – led by Viktor Orban, seen as friendly to both leaders – and the United States. The White House expressed surprise at Moscow’s acceptance of US territory.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the European Union of attempting to “sabotage” US-Russian peace efforts regarding Ukraine. Alexei Fadeyev, Deputy Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department, dismissed Zelensky’s consultations with European leaders as “politically and practically insignificant.” Fadeyev, quoted by RIA Novosti, stated: “They verbally support the diplomatic efforts of Washington and Moscow to resolve the crisis concerning Ukraine, but in reality, the European Union is sabotaging them.” He characterized EU rhetoric on peaceful resolution as an attempt to “complicate the process,” adding that Russia would monitor European actions ahead of the summit and expects no steps hindering constructive agreements.
Fadeyev, also cited by TASS, reiterated Russia’s “unchanged” core demands for peace, as outlined by President Putin last year: the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the four regions claimed by Moscow (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson) and Kyiv’s renunciation of NATO aspirations. “The territorial organization of the Russian Federation is enshrined in the Constitution of our country,” Fadeyev emphasized, referencing Russia’s annexation of the regions. He explicitly rejected any notion of “territorial swaps” alluded to by Trump, stating Russia’s negotiation goals in Alaska are “dictated exclusively by national interests.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on the “Sid & Friends in the Morning” podcast, countered the notion that the Alaska summit represents a Kremlin victory or concession to Russia. Rubio described the meeting as exploratory, allowing Trump to personally assess the situation “by looking this man in the eyes.” He noted Trump pursued the face-to-face encounter after failing to achieve desired results in phone conversations with Putin.