Afternoon opening: Intense diplomatic work on Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
After a heavy night of Russian attacks in Ukraine, it’s another busy day for European diplomacy as leaders seek new ways to pressure Russia into engaging with the peace process and are confronted with a new geopolitical reality.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Denmark, meeting with the Nordic and the Baltic leaders (the so-called NB8) to discuss further support for his country, while Poland’s president Karol Nawrocki is about to make his debut appearance on the international stage visiting US president Donald Trump at the White House.
We should hear from all of them this afternoon.
But then Slovak prime minister Robert Fico is in Beijing, where – fresh from meeting one-on-one with Russian president Vladimir Putin and talking about the need for “standardisation” of their bilateral relations – he joined a massive military parade intended to show China’s military might.
Xi Jinping said the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held China’s largest-ever military parade, joined by Putin and Kim Jong-un in a show of defiance to the west.
Putin also invited Kim Jong-un to visit Russia during a lengthy meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s biggest military parade, as Kim promised to do “everything I can to assist” Moscow.
Let’s see what the day brings us. I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Wednesday, 3 September 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good afternoon.
Key events
‘You’re not only fighting your own war; you’re fighting for entire future of Europe,’ Denmark’s Frederiksen tells Zelenskyy
In her comments, Frederiksen says that “maybe the most important part of future security guarantees in Ukraine is ensuring that you have a strong army – a well-equipped and trained Ukrainian army.”
“We have said from the beginning of this war that you are not only fighting your own war, you are fighting for the entire future of Europe. And therefore we have to continue [our support],” she said.
She also talked about the need for further security guarantees, which will be discussed at the Coalition of the Willing’s meeting on Thursday.
Coalition of the Willing ‘will try’ to speak to Trump on Thursday to urge more pressure on Russia, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen are now talking with journalists after the earlier NB8 meeting on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy stresses that Ukraine really counts on further support via the Nato’s PURL programme, and talks about the need for air defence system supplies which he describes as “absolutely strategic” ahead of winter.
The Ukrainian president also says that he wants the future security guarantees for Ukraine to go further than the existing wartime arrangements to make sure that “it doesn’t matter who will be the leader of one or another country, this system has to work” to uphold peace.
As a journalist invites him to criticise Trump for not putting more pressure on Russia, he elegantly sidesteps that question and stresses that Ukraine needs the US “on our side, in this crucial period.”
He stresses that Ukraine needs more air defence systems, and “to be realistic, mostly United States has it.”
But he eventually concedes that some decisions are progressing “very slow.”
Zelenskyy also talks about the importance of further sanctions on Russia, pointing out that it’s been more than two weeks since Trump-Putin conversation, with Russia seemingly showing no interest in progressing the talks – despite the promise made to the US president.
He reveals that the leaders taking part in the Coalition of the Willing meeting tomorrow “will try to connect with President Trump, and we’ll speak about it.”
Asked if he could trust Putin’s word, he replies:
Nobody trusts Putin.
He adds:
“Who can give you guarantees that Putin will not continue [the invasion]? Nobody. He lied so many times, so we can’t trust it.”
Thursday’s meeting of the Coalition of the Willing to firm up plans for guarantees for Ukraine, Nato’s Rutte says
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said he expected tomorrow’s talks between European leaders in Paris to firm up plans on security guarantees for Ukraine, and pave the way to get a clearer picture on US involvement.
“Tomorrow will be an important meeting, so I expect tomorrow, or soon after tomorrow, to have clarity on what collectively we can deliver,” Rutte told journalists at a press conference alongside Estonian president Alar Karis.
“That means that we can engage even more intensely, also with the American side to see what they want to deliver in terms of their participation.”
Afternoon opening: Intense diplomatic work on Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
After a heavy night of Russian attacks in Ukraine, it’s another busy day for European diplomacy as leaders seek new ways to pressure Russia into engaging with the peace process and are confronted with a new geopolitical reality.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Denmark, meeting with the Nordic and the Baltic leaders (the so-called NB8) to discuss further support for his country, while Poland’s president Karol Nawrocki is about to make his debut appearance on the international stage visiting US president Donald Trump at the White House.
We should hear from all of them this afternoon.
But then Slovak prime minister Robert Fico is in Beijing, where – fresh from meeting one-on-one with Russian president Vladimir Putin and talking about the need for “standardisation” of their bilateral relations – he joined a massive military parade intended to show China’s military might.
Xi Jinping said the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held China’s largest-ever military parade, joined by Putin and Kim Jong-un in a show of defiance to the west.
Putin also invited Kim Jong-un to visit Russia during a lengthy meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of China’s biggest military parade, as Kim promised to do “everything I can to assist” Moscow.
Let’s see what the day brings us. I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Wednesday, 3 September 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good afternoon.
