Europe plans sanctions if Putin refuses to meet with Zelensky

European leaders intend to impose sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to participate in a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian and American leaders Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, The Telegraph reports.

"If Putin drags his feet, prevaricates or refuses to negotiate, that will provide another incentive to impose sanctions," a British government source familiar with the White House talks told the paper.

The British government also reported that during talks between the leaders of about 30 countries that are part of the so-called coalition of the willing, with the participation of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the introduction of sanctions against Russia was discussed, among other things, until it demonstrated a readiness to “take serious action” to end the conflict in Ukraine .

The European Union intends to adopt the 19th package of sanctions against Russia in September. The Kremlin said that the Russian economy operates “under a huge number of restrictions” and has already developed “a certain immunity” to them.

After the summit with Zelensky and European leaders at the White House, Trump announced the start of preparations for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. The US President interrupted the summit with European leaders to call Putin. The Kremlin reported that the leaders discussed the possibility of raising the level of representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian sides at the talks.

The White House later said both the Ukrainian and Russian leaders had expressed a willingness to meet in person. Trump said they would first meet in private, and then a trilateral summit would be organized — with him in attendance. “I thought it would be better if they met without me, just to see, I want to see what happens,” he said.

Hungary was mentioned as a possible meeting place for Putin and Zelensky. According to the dataBLOOMBERG , Trump called Hungarian Prime Minister Orban during the White House summit, and he expressed interest in hosting a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders in the country.

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