European leaders said President Trump on Wednesday assured them he would not negotiate territorial issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their summit in Alaska this week, saying it is an issue that must be discussed between Ukraine and Russia.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron both said Trump made the comments during a virtual meeting with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday.
Merz made the remarks alongside Zelensky, who came to Berlin for the call.
The German leader said Trump told them he wouldn’t negotiate territorial issues and pledged to ask for an immediate ceasefire in the meeting, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two sources on the call.
Macron similarly told reporters that Trump agreed with European leaders during the call that any talks on territorial concessions must involve Ukraine.
Trump described the call with European leaders as “very good, I would rate it a 10” when speaking to reporters at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. He said there will be consequences for Putin if he does not agree to stop the war after their meeting in Alaska on Friday.
Trump also sought to set expectations for the meeting, saying he didn’t believe he has the power to halt Putin’s attacking of Ukrainian civilians.
“I’ve had that conversation with him, I’ve had a lot of good conversations with him and then I go home and I see that a rocket hit a nursing home, or a rocket hit an apartment building and people are laying dead in the street. … But I guess the answer to that is probably no.”
While Trump set an Aug. 8 deadline for Putin to stop the war or face sanctions, the president allowed that deadline to pass in exchange for the face-to-face summit.
Trump said the first meeting with Putin is an attempt to feel out the Russian leader’s commitment to negotiations to end the war, but the ultimate goal is to move toward a second summit with Zelensky, and possibly Trump as well.
“There’s a good chance we’ll have a second meeting that will be more productive than the first — because the first I’ll find out where we are and what we’re doing,” he said.
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