"Pressure must be exerted on Russia for the sake of a fair peace. We must learn from the experience of Ukraine and our partners to prevent deception on the part of Russia," Zelensky wrote on social media.
"There are currently no signs that the Russians are preparing to end the war," he added.
Zelensky is due in Berlin on Wednesday for talks with European leaders and Trump ahead of the US president's summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian leader said he and his team had held more than 30 conversations with world leaders and high-ranking officials ahead of the talks.
The flurry of diplomatic engagements have been overshadowed by rapid, but so far limited Russian push in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.
A member of the Ukrainian delegation travelling with Zelensky to Berlin told AFP that the Russian gains around the mining hub of Dobropillia "did not influence" preparation for Wednesday's talks.
Zelensky conceded one day earlier that Russian forces had advanced by up to 10 kilometres (six miles), but ruled out swapping territory with Moscow as part of any deal with Russia.
Zelensky, European leaders to hold Ukraine online summit before Trump-Putin meet
Berlin (AFP) Aug 13, 2025 -
Zelensky will travel to Berlin to join the afternoon video conference with the host, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a German government source told AFP.
Merz has also invited the French, British and other European leaders and the heads of the EU and NATO to take part in the talks.
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 is so far planned to go ahead without Zelensky. This has fuelled fears Kyiv could be forced into painful concessions, including over land.
EU leaders stressed on Tuesday "the inherent right of Ukraine to choose its own destiny", adding that "international borders must not be changed by force".
Zelensky, speaking to reporters Tuesday, ruled out withdrawing troops from the Donbas region which Moscow claims.
Merz's office said the conference call would discuss "further options to exert pressure on Russia" and "preparation of possible peace negotiations and related issues of territorial claims and security".
The talks would include leaders from "Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, the heads of the European Commission and Council, the secretary general of NATO, as well as the US president and his deputy", Berlin said on Monday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Merz are then also set to hold a round of talks of the so-called Coalition of the Willing of Ukraine's military backers.
- 'Difficult' battles -
Trump on Monday played down the possibility of a breakthrough in Alaska but said he expected "constructive conversations" with Putin.
"This is really a feel-out meeting a little bit," Trump said at the White House, but he also added that eventually "there'll be some swapping, there'll be some changes in land".
Russia, as a prerequisite to a peace settlement, has demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of several regions claimed by Moscow, commit to being a neutral state, shun US and EU military support and be excluded from joining NATO.
Ukraine has said it would never recognise Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield.
Ukraine said Tuesday it was engaged in "difficult" battles with Russian forces after Moscow had made rapid advances in a narrow but important section of the front line in the country's east.
Zelensky said on social media that "we see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war. On the contrary, they are making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations."
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