[Tee tiong huat]

European leaders set to hold emergency summit on Ukraine

European leaders are gathering in France for an emergency summit on Ukraine after the Trump administration announced it was opening talks with Russia on ending war without a European presence. UK leader Keir Starmer said the meeting in Paris was a “once in a generation” moment for national security following Washington’s bombshell announcement that has sparked concern in Kyiv and across Europe that Ukrainian and European leaders will be frozen out of peace negotiations. In recent days, US President Donald Trump and his top officials have upended what had largely been a united front between Washington and its European NATO allies on supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, which is nearing its third anniversary.

Trump’s posture toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, and comments from US officials on Ukraine and NATO, has raised anxieties in Europe that Washington’s vision for a swift end to the war would allow for key concessions to Russia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz are traveling to Saudi Arabia for the preliminary Ukraine talks, which are set to begin Tuesday, CNN previously reported. A Saudi official told CNN the kingdom would have a mediation role. 
The Ukrainians said they would not be present at the talks, though Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine envoy, discussed a “dual track” set of negotiations and will be in Kyiv this week. On Sunday, Trump said the Ukrainians would be part of the negotiations.

On Sunday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would “never accept any decisions between the U.S. and Russia about Ukraine.”