Zelenskyy to visit Berlin for meetings ahead of Trump-Putin summit

Berlin | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Berlin on Wednesday to join German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for talks with European and US leaders ahead of the Trump-Putin summit later this week, the German government said.

Merz has convened a series of virtual meetings on Wednesday in an attempt to have the voice of European and Ukraine's leaders heard ahead of a summit that they have been sidelined from.

Zelenskyy is due to meet with European leaders first, to prepare for a virtual call with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance about an hour later.

A call between leaders involved in the “coalition of the willing” countries prepared to help police any future peace agreement will take place last.

Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year.

Trump has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.

The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia's energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favourable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.

European countries' overarching fear is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.