‘I certainly think it’s possible,’ says the U.S. ambassador to NATO.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could attend the forthcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
During an interview with CNN that was published on Sunday, Whitaker was asked about whether Zelenskyy would be invited to the summit.
“I certainly think it’s possible,” Whitaker told the outlet. “You know, certainly, there can’t be a deal that everybody that’s involved in it doesn’t agree to.”
Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet on Aug. 15 to hold talks on ending the three-year-long war in Ukraine, White House officials and Trump confirmed. Trump has for weeks been threatening new sanctions against Russia for failing to put an end to the war.
In response to the meeting, Zelenskyy issued a statement on X saying that the Kyiv government should be involved.
“Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything,” Zelenskyy said in his post. “These are stillborn decisions. They are unworkable decisions. And we all need real and genuine peace. Peace that people will respect.”
Trump said a potential deal would involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” sides, compounding Ukrainian fears that it may face pressure to surrender land. Russia holds nearly a fifth of the country.
But the Ukrainian leader rejected suggestions that his country could concede territory to Russia as part of a peace deal.
“The answer to Ukraine’s territorial question is already in the constitution of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram Saturday. “No one will and no one can deviate from it. Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.”
Earlier Sunday, Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with Fox News that a negotiated settlement is unlikely to make either side happy.
“It’s not going to make anybody super happy. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it,” he said on Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
In the Fox interview recorded on Friday, Vance said the United States was working to schedule talks between Putin, Zelenskyy, and Trump, but he did not think it would be productive for Putin to meet with Zelenskyy before speaking with Trump.
“We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that, around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict,” he said.
In a post issued on X this weekend, Vance said that the Putin–Trump conversation was “to discuss a route to peace in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.” He provided no further details.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump said he could end the Ukraine–Russia war within 24 hours, but so far, a peace deal between the two nations has been elusive. Before the meeting in Alaska was announced, the president warned Russia that he would impose more sanctions on Russia and economic penalties on large trading partners with Moscow.
He also ordered U.S. nuclear-capable submarines to be deployed closer to Russia in response to remarks made by a former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, regarding the Kremlin’s nuclear capabilities.
Regarding the Trump–Putin meeting, Whitaker said that he believes “direct engagement by President Trump is obviously leading us closer to a peace.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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