European leaders back Putin-Trump-Zelensky meeting

Brussels, Belgium: European leaders on Saturday expressed support for a three way summit between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia s Vlad...

Brussels, Belgium: European leaders on Saturday expressed support for a three-way summit between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia's Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump, after a US-Russia summit failed to produce a ceasefire.

A statement, signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, insisted on maintaining pressure on Russia until peace was achieved, including through sanctions.

The European leaders also insisted Moscow "cannot have a veto" on Ukraine joining the European Union or NATO.

Russia has made clear it will not tolerate Kyiv's membership of the defence alliance. But the leaders said they were "ready to work ... towards a trilateral summit with European support".

Friday's Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska ended without the US president extracting concrete commitments from Putin to halt Russia's invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.