European leaders will hold online talks with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, hoping to convince him to respect Ukraine's interests when he discusses the war with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has invited Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as the French, British and other European leaders and the heads of the EU and NATO to an afternoon video conference.

They are then expected to talk to Trump and Vice President JD Vance in a second round of the conference call.

The Trump-Putin meeting on Friday -- their first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago -- is so far planned to go ahead without Zelensky.

This has fuelled fears Kyiv could be forced into painful concessions, including over

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