Matthew Whitaker spoke as Europeans put pressure on US to include Ukrainian president in meeting with Putin
The US ambassador to Nato said on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could attend this week’s US-Russia summit in Alaska, as European leaders push for Kyiv to be part of the negotiations. Ambassador Matthew Whitaker was asked on CNN whether Zelenskyy might join US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday. “Yes, I certainly think it’s possible,” he said. “Certainly, there can’t be a deal that everybody that’s involved in it doesn’t agree to. And, I mean, obviously, it’s a high priority to get this war to end.” Whitaker said the decision would ultimately be Trump’s to make. “If he thinks that that is the best scenario to invite Zelenskyy, then he will do that,” he said, adding that “no decision has been made to this point.”
Germany warned the White House on Sunday against any deal hatched “over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped and assumed that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would also be involved. “We cannot accept in any case that territorial questions are discussed or even decided between Russia and America over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians,” he told the broadcaster ARD. “I assume that the American government sees it the same way.”
