MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The Trump administration is holding talks this week with Russia about a possible peace deal with Ukraine. Absent from those talks are the Ukrainians. European nations are absent too, even though as a whole, they give more to keep Ukraine's forces fighting and its government functioning than the U.S. does. That said, European leaders are now actively planning to strengthen their own defenses - this after statements by Vice President JD Vance over the weekend, statements that set off alarm bells in Europe over whether the transatlantic relationship is in peril.
We're going to hear now from our NPR correspondents covering Ukraine and Russia. We begin in France, where President Emmanuel Macron just called an emergency summit of European leaders to see how the continent can also get a seat at peace talks.
ELANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris, where European leaders gathered after a disastrous Munich Security Conference saw them shut out of talks to negotiate an end to the war on their own continent.
HANS STARK: The shock is absolutely enormous after the Munich Conference.
BEARDSLEY: That's Hans Stark, Franco-German specialist at the Sorbonne University. He says the Europeans must come up with a strategy in the new geopolitical reality where they can no longer count on their American ally as before. He says they must find common positions on strategic issues like...
STARK: The deployment of European troops in Ukraine - under which conditions, how many - to speed up the building of a European defense industry, how to finance it.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: French TV news channels commented the arrival of eight key European leaders to the French presidential palace. There was Poland, that knows Kremlin domination well, and Germany, with the continent's largest economy. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already agreed to send troops to Ukraine to secure a ceasefire, though Germany said it's inappropriate to discuss that at this stage.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: (Non-English language spoken).
BEARDSLEY: Reporters yelled out as Italy's Giorgia Meloni arrived late. She's a key player - a Trump ally who also supports Ukraine.
Everyone here was stunned by President Trump's friendly phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week without even notifying his allies in Europe. Macron telephoned Trump to inform him of today's meeting. Europeans congratulated themselves on being the good diplomats.
Europe is at a crucial moment as Russia grows more aggressive and the U.S. steps back. There is fear that Trump will give away too much to Putin. European commission head Ursula von der Leyen summed up the sentiment on social media. Europe's security is at a turning point, she said. Yes, it's about Ukraine, but it's also about us. We need an urgency mindset. We need a surge in defense, and we need both of them now.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: I'm NPR's Ukraine correspondent Joanna Kakissis in Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to be in Saudi Arabia this week, but not to meet with top diplomats from the U.S. and Russia.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Zelenskyy was in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, and he spoke to reporters in Ukraine via video link. He told them he's in the region for official visits focused on humanitarian and economic issues. He said Ukraine did not know about the Russia-U.S. meeting.
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ZELENSKYY: (Through interpreter) Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as one that have no result. We cannot recognize any agreements about us without us.
KAKISSIS: Zelenskyy is pushing to bring Europe to the negotiating table. He's expected to make his case on Thursday to Keith Kellogg, the retired general President Trump has appointed as a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.
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ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Zelenskyy says he hopes Kellogg will be in Ukraine for at least two or three days. And during that time, he hopes to take Kellogg to the frontline to see the effects of Russia's war on Ukraine firsthand. In Ukraine's capital, the snowy chill captures the mood of this critical moment.
MARIIA IVANOVA: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Mariia Ivanova, a 54-year-old engineer, says people are tired and really want negotiations to start. Meanwhile, Valerii Melnikov, a 23-year-old physical therapist, says it's no longer clear how the U.S. actually sees Ukraine.
VALERII MELNIKOV: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: "They say bad things today, good things tomorrow, and then maybe the next day, they will say something else," he says. "We have no choice but to keep listening."
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: I'm NPR's Russia correspondent Charles Maynes. The Kremlin has said the talks will focus on making peace, not war, and announced Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will head the Russian mission to Saudi Arabia.
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SERGEY LAVROV: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Addressing journalists in Moscow, Lavrov said his job was to listen to the American proposals and report back to the Kremlin. Yet Lavrov also rejected in advance any notion of returning land annexed by Russia back to Ukraine.
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LAVROV: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: "They say we should probably give territorial concessions. But what for?" said Lavrov. "So ethnic Russians who live there can be destroyed?"
His comments come as the latest sign that, with Russian forces making gains on the battlefield, Moscow is in little mood to compromise. And U.S. negotiators may find themselves boxed in before the talks even begin by their own president.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We had a great call, and it lasted for a long time.
MAYNES: Following his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, President Trump said a lasting peace demanded Kyiv and its NATO ambitions and relinquished territory seized by Moscow - two key Russian demands.
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SERGEI MARKOV: In fact, he can accept all demands of Vladimir Putin.
MAYNES: Sergei Markov is a former Kremlin adviser. He says Trump's desire to end the conflict is widely admired by Russians, but so too is Trump's America-first agenda, so far as it views continued support for Ukraine as distant to core American security interests.
MARKOV: The only thing which Trump is concerned about is his image. He has image as a strong guy.
MAYNES: Perhaps with that in mind, Putin has extended an invitation for Trump to visit Moscow, leading to speculation Trump could join Putin on Red Square this May, when Russia commemorates the end of another war - World War II. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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