European leaders are pressing Washington to ratchet up sanctions pressure on Moscow as they race to shape the outcome of a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that could determine the fate of Ukraine and long-term security of the continent.
Ahead of talks between the US president and his Russian counterpart in Alaska on Friday, European capitals have been rushing to forge a united front over the format and substance of a meeting that could be a turning point in Russia’s invasion.
At a summit on Saturday, hosted by UK foreign minister David Lammy and attended by US vice-president JD Vance, European and Ukrainian security advisers argued Washington should apply more pressure on Russia through sanction threats, according to several officials in attendance or briefed on the talks.
“Putin only acts under pressure,” German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday. “Clearly the military pressure is not strong enough, and US sanctions haven’t yet been applied. If they were, the impact on the Russian economy would be significant. I’ve been urging the US president to do that.”
Merz, who was scheduled to speak to Trump on Sunday, added that the Alaska meeting must yield tangible results. “Either in the direction of increasing pressure on Russia, or that Russia realises of its own accord that this war cannot go on.”
European officials have also argued any future ceasefire agreement should be enforced with tough sanctions for any violations, ensuring that Russia cannot bank economic benefits from peace before resuming the war.
Vance on Sunday described the planned meeting as a “major breakthrough for American diplomacy”, saying the push was to find a negotiated settlement on territory “where the killing stops”. #
“Both the Russians and the Ukrainians probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it,” he told Fox News.
The US vice-president also warned Europe that the US would no longer be funding Ukraine as it had. “If you care so much about this conflict, you should be willing to play a more direct and more substantial way in funding this war yourself,” he said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his evening address on Sunday — when he reported that Russian forces had pounded the southern city of Zaporizhzhia with guided aerial bombs — said: “Everyone sees that there has been no real step from Russia towards peace, no action on the ground or in the air that could save lives.”
“That is why sanctions are needed, pressure is needed. Strength is needed — of the United States, of Europe . . . If Russia does not want to stop the war, then its economy must be stopped.”
Europe is also looking at frozen Russian sovereign assets as a point of leverage, with Brussels floating the idea of using the assets to fund Ukraine, two EU officials said. One proposal would involve borrowing the cash accumulated at the Belgian clearing house Euroclear from the €190bn Russian assets, and lending it to Ukraine, they said.
“At some point there could be discussion on what to do with these assets if Russia does not compensate Ukraine for the destruction it has created,” said a senior EU official.
Europeans have been pushing for Zelenskyy to attend the Alaska meeting, Merz said.
With Trump intent on discussing possible territorial concessions with Putin, Europeans have demanded strong security guarantees for Ukraine to be part of any settlement.
“Security guarantees are of the utmost importance for Ukraine,” said the EU official, adding: “The most robust security guarantee would be that there are no limitations on Ukraine armed forces and third countries support to Ukraine.”
European capitals are also resisting restrictions on the Ukrainian military and on western military and financial support for Ukraine.
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Europeans have warned against exchanges of territory, an idea floated by Trump last week, fearing it would amount to Ukraine ceding land to an aggressor. Europeans have argued instead that the current front line should be the starting point of ceasefire talks.
“Regarding territorial issues, the Russian position is framed as a territorial swap, but it appears as a rather one-sided swap,” said the EU official.
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte told ABC on Sunday that the negotiations will also be “about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides its own future . . . having no limitations to its military troop levels”. He added that the transatlantic alliance should have “no limitations” on its presence on the eastern flank.
In Kyiv, senior officials voiced concerns that Trump may try to pressure Zelenskyy into accepting any arrangement struck in Alaska. Since returning to office in February, the US president has suspended weapons shipments twice and intelligence sharing once with Kyiv, to force Zelenskyy to end the war.
Senior Ukrainian and European officials said they expected Putin to blame the Ukrainian president for being an obstacle to a deal.
“We cannot accept that Russia continues to threaten the entire European security system,” Merz said. “That is why there can be no peace that rewards Russian aggressive action and possibly encourages further action.”
Additional reporting by Stefania Palma in Washington