The US envoy to NATO said on Sunday that President Volodymyr Zelensky could attend Friday’s summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, on the same day that US Vice President JD Vance told American audiences that they were “done with the funding of the Ukraine war business.”
The US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, told CNN on Sunday that Zelensky might join the US president in his talks in Alaska with Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin on Friday.
“Yes, I certainly think it’s possible,” Whitaker 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.”
AFP reported that Zelensky has held calls with 13 counterparts over 3 days, including “Kyiv’s main backers: Germany, Britain and France.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Sunday he hoped and assumed that Zelensky would attend the summit, joining a chorus of European leaders who insisted that Ukraine have a seat at the table in Alaska.
Whitaker said the decision would ultimately be Trump’s to make.
“If he thinks that that is the best scenario to invite Zelensky, then he will do that,” he said, adding that “no decision has been made to this point.”
Meanwhile, Vance attempted to assure Trump’s “America First” base that no more US taxpayer dollars would be spent on Kyiv’s behalf.
“We’re done with the funding of the Ukraine war business. We want to bring about a peaceful settlement to this thing,” Vance told Fox News on Sunday.
Vance said that the US wants peace in Ukraine but in the same breath said that Kyiv should not expect any more aid and encouraged Putin to accept a ceasefire deal at the meeting in Alaska.
“Americans, I think, are sick of continuing to send their money, their tax dollars to this particular conflict, but if the Europeans want to step up and actually buy the weapons from American producers we’re OK with that. But we’re not going to fund it ourselves anymore,” Vance told the conservative-friendly news outlet.