Britain issues warning to Merz and Macron over Ukraine
Officials tell EU leaders that public demands could ‘annoy’ Donald Trump
British officials have urged EU leaders to stop an “unhelpful running commentary” on looming Ukraine peace talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Officials are increasingly concerned about public comments on the future of Ukraine by figures including Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat.
They fear that issuing public demands to the US president may backfire and cause him to cut Europe out of talks altogether.
It comes as Mr Trump and his Russian counterpart prepare to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine at “one-to-one” talks in Alaska on Friday.
The two leaders will not be flanked by their advisers when they come face-to-face for the highly anticipated meeting in Anchorage.
Insiders in the UK have pointed to the fact that Sir Keir Starmer has made no public comments on the discussions since a joint statement on Saturday evening, choosing instead to influence from behind the scenes.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman did not explicitly call for Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, to be present for the talks during a briefing with journalists on Monday, despite EU figures publicly making the request.
Downing Street figures have long argued in private that the best way to sway Mr Trump is to use access and influence behind closed doors rather than publicly challenging him to adopt a position.
One British official told The Telegraph there were concerns about the “unhelpful running commentary” emerging from European leaders about the Trump-Putin talks.
The source said: “Unlike our European colleagues, we are not publicly out there making demands of the Americans.
“A lot of the way the Europeans seem to be behaving, they’re going to annoy the Americans, they’re going to annoy Trump if they start making demands and if they put out red lines.”
The fate of Ukraine will be discussed by the US president and Putin on Friday in their first in-person meeting since Mr Trump returned to the White House.
Tempering expectations of the leaders making a breakthrough, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, insisted the summit was a “listening exercise” for Mr Trump.
“The goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war,” Ms Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.
“It is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that’s involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,” she added.
While the full details of any proposals remain unclear, Moscow’s demand for additional Ukrainian-held territory to be handed over in return for a ceasefire appears to be a key sticking point.
Mr Zelensky ruled out giving up the Donbas region in his evening address to the Ukrainian people on Tuesday night.
He said any Russian proposal to pull Ukrainian troops out of the eastern Donbas region would deprive Kyiv of defensive lines and open the way for Moscow to conduct further offensives.
“Putin will have an open way to both Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions. Also for Kharkiv,” Mr Zelensky said. “The territorial issue cannot be separated from security guarantees.”
Since the joint statement from European leaders supporting Ukraine on Saturday evening, some individual politicians have gone further in public.
Mr Merz, the German chancellor, called for Mr Zelensky to attend the talks in Alaska, saying: “We are preparing intensively at the European level together with the US government for this meeting. And we hope and assume that the Ukrainian government and President Zelensky will be involved in this meeting.”
Ms Kallas also pressed for Kyiv to be part of the talks, adding: “We cannot accept that territorial issues between Russia and America are discussed or even decided over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians.”
She has since said the EU is working on a new package of sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion.
On X, Mr Macron wrote: “Ukraine’s future cannot be decided without the Ukrainians, who have been fighting for their freedom and security for over three years now. Europeans will also necessarily be part of the solution, as their own security is at stake.”
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, commented: “I will wait... for the effects of the meeting between presidents Trump and Putin – I have many fears and a lot of hope.”
Sir Keir is holding private calls with world leaders this week in an attempt to influence the meeting.
The difference in approach has echoed other instances this year in which Sir Keir and his officials used private channels – not public declarations – to shape Mr Trump’s thinking.
After heated clashes between the US president and Mr Zelensky at a White House meeting in February, a string of EU leaders publicly declared their support for the Ukrainian leader on X.
Sir Keir refrained from issuing his support, opting to phone Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump in an attempt to repair the damage.
Mr Trump appeared unswayed by public calls for Mr Zelensky to attend the talks, rejecting the idea at a press conference on Monday. Instead, he said he would communicate any emerging deal to Mr Zelensky and European leaders after his meeting with Putin.
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