The prime ministers of Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom sided with Ukraine’s government on Saturday amid fears that Kyiv is being frozen out of peace talks between the Kremlin and US President Donald Trump.
Though Russia launched a full-scale invasion into its neighbor in February 2022, Trump this week appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the conflict. He also labeled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator,” and said he didn’t need to be present during peace talks.
What did the European leaders say?
In a phone call with Zelenskyy, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said there can be no framework for peace without Ukraine’s involvement, a statement from Mitsotakis’ office said on Saturday.
Speaking two days before the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the Greek leader said it was up to Kyiv to decide what is acceptable to end the conflict.
Mitsotakis was supported by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who said Saturday in an interview that peace in Ukraine cannot be “imposed.”
Any “just and lasting peace” requires Ukrainian and European participation, added Sanchez. The Spanish leader is due to visit Kyiv on Monday.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer told Zelenskyy by phone on Saturday that Ukraine must be at the heart of any negotiations to end the war and that safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty was essential to deter Russian aggression, according to a read-out of the call from Downing Street.
Starmer also spoke with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm. The two leaders “agreed that Europe must step up for the good of collective European security,” Starmer’s spokesperson said.
At his final campaign rally in Munich before federal elections on Sunday, the conservative candidate for German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Europe must “sit at the main table and safeguard our interests vis-a-vis Russia and China.”
Washington seeks Security Council vote on draft resolution
Meanwhile, US diplomats called for the United Nations Security Council to vote on Monday on a brief draft resolution about the Ukraine war.
Washington this week refused to co-sponsor a text drafted by Ukraine and the EU and proposed its own resolution on Friday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the draft resolution reflected Trump’s view that the UN must return to its founding purpose to maintain international peace and security, including through the peaceful settlement of disputes.
The US text mourns the loss of life and “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.”
A Security Council vote needs a least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Russia, China, Britain or France to be adopted.
Zelenskyy ‘not ready’ to sign US minerals deal
In another development on Saturday, the Ukrainian president is “not ready” to sign a minerals deal with the United States, a source told AFP news agency.
The comment contradicts US reports that an agreement with Kyiv over the rare earth elements, needed to power the energy transition, was close.
Trump has asked for “$500 billion worth” of rare earth minerals to make up for US support to Kyiv in the first three years of the conflict.
However, Kyiv wants any agreement signed with the US to include security guarantees.
“There are no American obligations in the agreement regarding guarantees or investments, everything about them is very vague, and they want to extract $500 billion from us,” the Ukrainian source told AFP of the proposed deal.
Reuters news agency cited three sources as saying that US negotiators had threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to Elon Musk’s vital Starlink satellite internet system if it did not agree to the minerals deal.
London protest urges world not to ‘betray Ukraine’
Meanwhile, thousands of protesters held a rally in the UK capital on Saturday, ahead of the third anniversary of the conflict, calling on Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine.
Demonstrators carried placards through central London saying “Occupation is not Peace” and “Don’t Betray Ukraine,” behind a banner calling for “Russian Troops Out.”
In a joint statement, the march organizers said Ukraine has been made vulnerable by not being provided with enough aid to defeat Russia and is being “expected to consign its own citizens to occupation under a deal imposed by Trump.”
Orban: Hungary to decide on Ukraine’s EU membership
Ukraine’s hopes of joining the European Union will be decided by Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed Saturday.
“Against the will of Hungary and the Hungarians, Ukraine will never be a member of the European Union,” Orban said at his annual State of the Nation address in Budapest. “Ukraine’s accession would destroy Hungarian farmers, and not only them but the entire Hungarian national economy.”
Orban described Ukraine as a buffer zone between Russia and NATO countries and predicted that once the war ends, Ukraine would resume that role despite Kyiv’s ambitions to join the Atlantic military alliance.
Considered the Kremlin’s closest partner in the EU, Orban has frequently threatened to veto EU sanctions against Russia but has ultimately always voted for them.
Orban’s comments on NATO mirrored recent statements by members of Trump’s administration, who have suggested Ukraine should abandon its hopes of joining NATO as a guarantor of its future security.
Edited by: Darko Janjevic
