Before Trump talks to Putin, Germany and others want to bend his ear

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska, to discuss a path to ending the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine 3 1/2 years ago. Before he does, his European allies would like to have a word.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany will convene a Ukraine-themed video call Wednesday that is set to include Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and several of Trump's favorite European leaders, including Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni of Italy.

A wide range of public statements from Merz and others suggest the leaders will implore Trump not to cut a peace deal with Putin behind the backs of Zelenskyy or his European allies. Zelenskyy has not been invited to Alaska.


The European leaders will likely stress that any discussions of terms for ending the war must start with a full ceasefire. They also believe that Europe's approval is essential for any plans to enforce a truce with European troops.

It will be the latest attempt by Merz and his European counterparts to head off Trump's unilateral impulses and to keep him from falling under Putin's sway -- though Merz and his allies almost never frame it that way.

Instead, the center-right chancellor and fellow leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, regularly portray themselves as closely aligned with Trump on Ukraine, even as they publicly and privately encourage him to do more to support officials in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

"We cannot accept that territorial issues between Russia and America are discussed or even decided over the heads of Europeans, over the heads of Ukrainians," Merz said in a television interview Sunday. "I assume that the American government sees it the same way. That is why there is this close coordination."

Merz has staked much of his early term on rebuilding Germany's military and reclaiming its leadership position for Europe and the world, with a firm gaze toward Russia. He has courted Trump aggressively since taking office in early May, with text messages, phone calls, international summits and an Oval Office visit.

He has relentlessly pitched Trump on the idea that by intervening boldly and decisively on the side of Ukraine against Russia, the United States could force Putin into a ceasefire and serious talks on ending the war. It has been the chancellor's primary request of the president, overwhelming other major issues, like Trump's push to impose new tariffs on Europe.

Trump seemed receptive, to varying degrees, particularly as he grew frustrated in recent months with Putin's continued bombardments of Ukraine. He agreed to sell American weapons to Germany and others, to then be supplied to Kyiv, and he has threatened harsh economic penalties on Moscow if the war continues.

But then, last week, after overtures from Putin, Trump shifted again. He hastily scheduled the Alaska meeting. This week, he told reporters he wanted to see what Putin had on his mind, and whether he could broker "a deal" on the war, including swaps of land currently held by Ukraine and Russia.

Merz and his allies fear what that discussion could bring. So they have stacked the video call with top Europeans who enjoy good relations with Trump, including the leaders of Poland and Finland and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

European leaders refuse to entertain any talk of redrawing borders before Putin agrees to a ceasefire. They do not want to negotiate away Ukrainian land that Russian forces do not currently hold. German officials have been more publicly oblique on whether they could support a truce that cedes some parts of prewar Ukraine to Russia, though privately, they have sounded resigned to the possibility.

They also worry that peace on bad terms could encourage Putin to continue his push toward Western Europe, perhaps sending troops next to a neighbor like Lithuania, a member of NATO.

"It really is a concern that Putin might feel emboldened," said Anna Sauerbrey, the foreign editor for Germany's Die Zeit newspaper. "Not to go for Berlin, of course, but to cause some unrest in other Baltic countries, other European countries."

Above all, Europeans fear that Putin could use the Alaska meeting to sell Trump on a peace deal that Zelenskyy would never accept, leading Trump to turn his ire on the Ukrainian leader.

Trump could then threaten to pull crucial American intelligence support for Ukraine on the battlefield, as his administration briefly did this spring.

Europe would continue to back Ukraine in that case, but its task would be far more difficult. Merz and other leaders have acknowledged the need for American support. Sauerbrey said that reality puts European leaders in a "very weak position" to negotiate with Trump.

"They can hope and pray" and continue to flatter him, she said. "But that's pretty much all they have."

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.