Germany asks US to join Ukraine peace talks in Berlin

Germany is inviting the United States to join a high-stakes meeting in Berlin early next week on a potential Ukraine ceasefire, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday after talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
The meeting, expected to bring together key European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is intended to align positions on the rapidly evolving peace effort.
Merz said the United States has been asked to participate, but whether it joins will “very much depend” on progress in negotiations “over the weekend” between the E3 — the U.K., France and Germany — Ukraine and the U.S. on the underlying documents.
That includes a European proposal on potential territorial arrangements that was sent to Washington only late Wednesday.
“It mainly concerns the question of what territorial concessions Ukraine is prepared to make,” Merz said.
The invitation follows a tense call on Wednesday between Merz, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump, in which the sides struggled to bridge differences on the direction of the peace effort.
Trump later acknowledged the friction, saying “pretty strong words” were used during the conversation, an admission that highlights disagreements over the U.S.-backed approach.
European leaders are racing to assert their relevance in the process amid concerns that Washington’s proposals lean toward Russia and put demands on Ukraine that Zelenskyy will not be able to accept. Merz emphasized that only Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian public can determine what compromises are feasible, adding that any ceasefire must be backed by robust guarantees to avoid another Russia attack.
“No peace must be made without us being involved,” Merz said, arguing that Europe’s security interests must be written into any deal.
However, the Russian Foreign Ministry told the Izvestia newspaper that Kyiv is setting “unacceptable” conditions to the peace deal crafted by the White House.
Later Thursday, Starmer will host a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing of Ukraine's allies in London that is expected to include about 30 leaders.
The German chancellor also sought to frame Europe as a constructive partner rather than a brake on negotiations, noting that he believed Trump was “willing to embark on this path together with us” after their call.
That comes after this week's U.S. National Security Strategy and Trump's comments to POLITICO that framed European leaders as “weak” and the European Union as an obstacle to the U.S.
Merz said that the U.S. “still finds it difficult to understand that the EU is a strong union.”
Trump is also ramping up pressure on Zelenskyy.