Why Zelenskyy and European leaders are still pushing for a ceasefire in Ukraine

A soldier from Ukraine’s 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade at the scene where a Russian glide bomb struck minutes earlier in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Aug. 17, 2025. (Finbarr O’Reilly/The New York Times)

By Jim Tankersley

In the public portions of their meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and other European leaders made a concerted effort to project solidarity with Trump’s negotiating position in talks with Russia over ending the war in Ukraine. One issue was an exception: whether any route to a peace deal must be preceded by a ceasefire.

Last week, Trump agreed with European leaders that no negotiations could begin in earnest without first halting the fighting in Ukraine. But after meeting President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Friday in Alaska, Trump dropped his support for that idea, essentially adopting Putin’s position.

European leaders say that is a mistake. At the start of one meeting with Trump on Monday, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, put it bluntly. “I can’t imagine the next meeting will take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said, referring to hopes that Putin and Zelenskyy may meet. “So let’s work on that and let’s try to put pressure on Russia.”

Merz repeated the position to reporters at the start of a news conference after the meeting: “A genuine negotiation can only take place at a summit in which Ukraine itself participates,” he said. “Such a summit is only conceivable if the guns fall silent. I reiterated this demand today.”

Why are Merz and his counterparts so insistent on a ceasefire? There are several reasons, some obvious. They want the killing to stop, including the mounting civilian death toll. Such pauses have historically provided crucial trust and stability that allow genuine peace negotiations to begin.

But in the case of Ukraine, a ceasefire would also change the balance of power. Russia is currently making slow, but appreciable, gains on the battlefield, taking steadily more Ukrainian territory. That gives Putin an advantage when it comes to the terms of a peace deal, including, likely, decisions about ceding some portions of Ukraine to Russia.

A ceasefire would stop that Russian momentum, allow Ukraine’s army time to regroup and rearm, and change the dynamics of the peace talks.

That’s why Putin doesn’t want one — and it’s a big reason European leaders like Merz do.