European leaders to join Zelensky at Trump talks

European leaders including from Germany, France and Britain will accompany Volodymyr Zelensky to meet Donald Trump in Washington, they said yesterday, seeking to bolster him as the US president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace agreement.

A day before the talks with Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were hosting a meeting of allies yesterday to shore up Zelensky's position, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a US role.

President Trump is leaning on Zelensky to strike an agreement after he met Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska. According to sources, the US and Russian leaders discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.

At face value, some of Putin's demands would be hugely difficult for Ukraine to accept, setting the stage for potentially fraught talks about ending Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, which has dragged on for 3-1/2 years and killed or wounded more than 1 million people, reports Reuters.

In his statement after the Alaska summit, Putin signalled no movement in Russia's long-held demands, which also include a veto on Kyiv's desired membership in the Nato alliance.

He also warned Ukraine and its European allies not to "create any obstacles. That they will not attempt to disrupt the emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigue".

Meanwhile, Trump yesterday hailed "big progress" on Russia. "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, without elaborating.

Zelensky, speaking in Brussels yesterday, said the current front lines in his country's war against Russia should be the basis for peace talks. "We need real negotiations, which means we can start where the front line is now," he said, adding that European leaders supported this.

In a separate development, Kyiv and Moscow launched attack drones at each other yesterday. Kyiv's air force said Russia attacked Ukraine with 60 Iranian-made Shahed and other drones as well as an Iskander missile, reports AFP.

The governor of the embattled eastern Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, said Russian attacks killed five people in the area on Saturday.

In Russia, the defence ministry said Kyiv launched 46 drones at the country, mostly over border regions but also over the Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow, hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine.

The acting governor of the border Kursk region, Alexander Khinstein, said a Ukrainian drone attack killed a man in his car.

The governor of the southern Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev, said a railway worker was wounded by a drone in the region.

Ukraine has launched drones into Russia throughout Moscow's full-scale offensive, which has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.