European countries are trying to persuade Trump not to withdraw from the negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine – Financial Times

The leadership of the European capitals is shocked by the results of the conversation between the US president and the head of the Russian Federation. After the US president hinted that he would leave the negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine, there were several calls and meetings between European and Ukrainian leaders and senior security officials.

Thus, a lot of diplomatic efforts are being made to convince US President Donald Trump not to withdraw from the negotiation process, UNN reports with reference to Financial Times. 

Details

According to officials informed about the negotiations, the discussion on Tuesday focused on ways in which European countries could introduce new sanctions against Russia, possibly without US participation, as well as how to persuade the White House to resume efforts to achieve a ceasefire.

We need to find a way to ensure that... the US continues to participate (in the negotiations, - ed.)

Ukraine hopes to secure some "common ground" with its European allies, a Ukrainian official familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times.

We clearly see that Trump wants to withdraw from the negotiations. The goal is to keep the Americans in the negotiations and find common ground on how to ensure a ceasefire

Zelenskyy's office said he spoke with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and will hold several more calls with his counterparts across Europe to coordinate.

Recall

After a two-hour phone conversation between Trump and Putin on Monday, the US president announced that Russia and Ukraine would "immediately" start negotiations to prepare for peace talks without the US as an intermediary.

After talking to Putin, Trump called Zelenskyy and the leaders of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and the European Commission, who were shocked that the US president told them about his conversation with the Russian president.

Trump's rhetoric contrasted sharply with the Western ultimatum he supported earlier this month, threatening Putin with additional sanctions if he did not implement a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine had already agreed to.

Last week, America said that if Russia does not agree to a full and unconditional ceasefire, there will be consequences.""We want to see these consequences from the US. We really haven't seen pressure (from the US, - ed.) on Russia from these negotiations

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said the EU supports new sanctions proposed by US Senator Lindsey Graham, but it is unclear what Trump will do.

So the question is, what will the White House message be?

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also said that Putin is not interested in peace negotiations with Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin is obviously still stalling, and this is very clear..., it seems (he, - ed.) is still not very interested in peace"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed his readiness for genuine diplomacy and stressed the importance of a complete and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible and any format of negotiations that will bring results.