U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a meeting in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. /VCG
A U.S. official has said Ukraine could be a part of negotiations between the United States and Russia, as European leaders pushed for Kyiv's inclusion ahead of talks between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
The two leaders will meet in the U.S. state of Alaska Friday to try to resolve the three-year war, but the EU has insisted that Kyiv and European powers should be part of any deal to end the conflict.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the talks in a meeting by video link on Monday, joined by their Ukrainian counterpart.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could attend this week's U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.
Whitaker said the decision would ultimately be Trump's to make, and there was no word on Sunday from the White House.
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After the announcement of the U.S.-Russia summit, Zelenskyy held calls with 13 counterparts over three days, including Germany, Britain and France.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday he hoped and assumed that the Ukrainian president would attend the leaders' summit.
Leaders of the Nordic and Baltic countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden – also said no decisions should be taken without Kyiv's involvement.
Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said any deal between the United States and Russia to end the war in Ukraine had to include Kyiv and the bloc.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga will also take part in the EU meeting on Monday, the ministry said.
Ukraine's military said on Sunday it had taken back a village in the Sumy region from the Russian army, which has made significant recent gains.
The village is on the frontline in the north of the country and about 20 kilometers west of the main fighting between the two armies in the northern region.
As a prerequisite to any peace settlement, Moscow has demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of the regions and commit to being a neutral state, shun U.S. and EU military support and be excluded from joining NATO.
Kyiv said it would never recognize Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.
(With input from AFP)
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