Europe races to influence Trump before Putin is an invitation

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European leaders should speak to Donald Trump on Monday to help the US President “prepare” for his planned invitation with Vladimir Putin, while it could be a pivotal week for the parked Ukrainian peace talks.

The Trump administration led to his call with the Russian President, its first public meeting within about three months, as a critical note to create concrete standards for a permanent settlement of war.

For a long time, worried that the American president may cut an agreement with the Kremlin, who ignores the interests of Ukraine, as European leaders were racing at the same time to influence Trump’s thinking before the talks.

German advisor Friedrich Mirz He said that he would join French President Emmanuel Macron and Sir Kerr Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, on Monday for their second invitation with Trump since Friday.

“We can only hope that there will be more progress,” said Mirz, who was arguing with London and Paris to increase the pressure on Moscow. “My firm impression is that both Europeans and Americans are determined to work together, but now on intentionally, to ensure the end of this terrible war soon.”

During a wave of diplomacy over the past ten days, Putin has given little land, and he refused to participate in the conditions specified by others and drew a meeting with Ukrainian President Folodimir Zellinski in Turkey last week despite the proposal of talks between the two sides.

While the American administration has grown more patience with Russia, the Trump team was guarding Putin’s criticism. Trump said on Friday that he arranged the direct invitation with Putin because he always felt that a peace deal was not possible “without me.” Trump is expected to speak to Zelinski after his invitation with the Kremlin.

Zelenskyy met on Sunday in Rome with US Vice President JD Vance, the first meeting between the two men since their bombing at the White House in February. Zelinski described her as a “good meeting” and said that he included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“We discussed the negotiations in Istanbul, as the Russians sent a low -level delegation without decision -making authority,” Zellinski said. “I have reaffirmed Ukraine’s willingness to real diplomacy and stressed the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible.”

Rubio said his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov On Saturday, he told him that Moscow will prepare a document “determining its ceasefire requirements that would then lead to broader negotiations.”

He said in an interview with CBS: “We do not want to participate in the endless conversations process, there should be some progress, some movement forward.”

If a document “in the next few days” is agreed where both sides appear in preparation for making concessions, “I think we can feel satisfied with the continuation of engagement.” He said: “So, on the other hand, what we see is not a very productive, then we may have a different evaluation.”

Kiev and its European allies fear that if the Trump administration walks away from peace talks, it will stop or reduce American military support to Ukraine, providing the additional battlefield feature to Moscow.

Zelenskyy was closely coordinated with European leaders and joined their invitation with Trump on Friday. During a visit to Rome on Sunday, Ursula von der Lin, the European Commission president, said next week “will be decisive” in an attempt to push the peace process forward.

This indicates the weakening of Ukraine before any peace talks, Russia carried out the largest drone attack on Ukraine from the war during the weekend, as it fired 273 drones and explosive myths, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

The Military Intelligence Agency in Ukraine also warned on Sunday that Russia intends to conduct a training launch of the “Yars” RS-24 “Yars” during the night of May 19.

The agency said that the launch aims to “intimidate Ukraine” and that the missile will be equipped with training warheads. She said the missile has a range of 10,000 km and will be launched from a location in the Sverdlovsk region in Russia, near the Ural Mountains.

Additional reports: Barbara Mines in Brussels and Laura Beetle in Berlin