European Leaders Insist Ukraine Must be Part of Peace Talks

0:01Today on State of the World, European Union foreign ministers say Ukraine must be part of any peace deal made with Russia. and Israeli airstrikes kill Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

0:16You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Monday, August 11th. I'm Christine Arismeth. One of those Palestinian journalists killed, Al Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif. More from Gaza in a moment. First, the EU foreign ministers are meeting ahead of Friday's planned talks between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those talks will be in Alaska, with the two leaders discussing a ceasefire deal, how to begin to end the war in Ukraine. Missing from the roster is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

0:58That is one of a number of concerns that European leaders are raising about the planned Alaska summit. NPR's Rob Schmitz spoke with All Things Considered's Mary Louise Kelly. Okay, so top line, what are you hearing in Europe? Well, the biggest concern here is that, as you mentioned, the president of the country, which was invaded by Russia more than three years ago, has not been invited to a summit whose goal is to work out a ceasefire between it and Russia. In a joint statement over the weekend, the leaders of Europe's biggest country said, quote, the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.

1:33The path to peace. Stay there for a second because President Trump has said, he repeated today, he says the path to peace includes Ukraine giving up territory to Russia. That is a proposition that has already was immediately rejected by President Zelensky. Where you are, how do European leaders see an end to this war? Well, first off, they would like an end to the hostilities so that both sides have some space to reach out a diplomatic solution. And EU leaders stressed over the weekend that they remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. Yesterday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told national broadcaster ARD that there can be no peace that rewards what he called Russia's aggressive actions and encourages and emboldens further action.

2:20Here's what he said. Putin handelt nur unter Druck. Der militärische Druck ist da, aber offensichtlich nicht groß genug.

2:51And I should add here that Meritz was able to convince President Trump to sit down and meet with him and other key European leaders, including Zelensky, in what's being called an emergency virtual summit between them on Wednesday ahead of the Alaska summit. Ah, OK. So this Wednesday with the Alaska summit happening Friday. OK. Back to the matter of potential, emphasis on potential, territorial concessions by Ukraine. If Ukraine rejects that, and as we just have gone through, it sounds like they already have. Does that on some level risk making Ukraine the scapegoat? Does it make it easier for Putin to convince Trump, hey, Ukraine is the problem?

3:30Ukraine is the reason we can't reach a peace deal? Yeah, I mean, this is why European leaders want to be a part of this. They've had plenty of experience dealing with Putin. They know how he operates. And they are concerned that this will be Putin's message coming out of this Alaska meeting to try and drive a wedge between the U.S. and Ukraine, as well as between the U.S. and its allies in Europe. And this is also why both Zelensky and European leaders, such as German Chancellor Merz, are approaching their comments on this summit very carefully. They're not criticizing it too harshly so as not to put Trump on the defensive.

4:03European leaders want to be part of these talks because a hypothetical lasting peace in Ukraine will likely involve them and require their investment, both in terms of money, but also quite possibly manpower. We're talking about Europe here, and Ukraine is more or less in their backyard. So European leaders feel like they've got a crucially important stake in all of this, and they feel like they need to be at that table. That's NPR's Rob Schmitz. He spoke to Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered. Now to Gaza. The organization Reporters Without Borders says Israel's lethal attacks on media in Gaza amount to the highest death toll for journalists ever recorded in a single year of war anywhere.

4:45NPR's Aya Batrawi reports on the latest attack that killed Gaza's most prominent television journalist Sunday night. And a warning, you will hear descriptions of war some may find disturbing.

5:01Al-Shariq.

5:05Journalists cry out in disbelief. Anas al-Sharif has just been martyred, they say. The video shows the moments after a press tent was struck. Inside is 28-year-old al-Sharif's lifeless, bloodied body. Killed while wearing a blue press vest, journalists don in war zones. Al-Sharif always wore it. He was a target. One of six Al-Jazeera journalists named in a list 10 months ago by Israel, which accused them of having ties with militant groups. He saw his friends on that list assassinated or severely wounded. But Al-Sharif, a father of two young children, one of whom was born in the war, never wavered and never left the North.

5:48His boyish face and neatly combed hair belied the raw force of his live broadcasts in besieged areas of northern Gaza, bombed by Israeli fighter jets.

6:03That reporting gained him huge admiration in Gaza and a combined social media following of 2 million people globally. In all, six journalists were killed in Sunday night's attack, five of them with Al Jazeera, the network says. It happened just as Israel's government plans to take over all of Gaza City, raising questions as to why the military killed Al Sharif now. Al Jazeera says the attack is an attempt to, quote, quote, silence the voices exposing the military's impending seizure and occupation of Gaza. Israel's military confirmed the airstrike, saying El Sharif was a Hamas cell commander operating under the false cover of a journalist.

6:42The military published digitally altered graphics of documents it says show El Sharif was a, quote, terrorist within the ranks of Hamas. The Committee to Protect Journalists says the allegations are unsubstantiated. Here's the group's chief executive, Jody Ginsberg, speaking to NPR after Israel first made allegations against him and other Al Jazeera journalists last October. This is part of a pattern that we've seen from Israel in which Israel alleges that journalists are terrorists and then fails to produce any real credible evidence that they are such. The group confirms nearly 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza in Israeli attacks in this war.

7:25In his last broadcast, Al-Sharif showed images of Gaza's famished children suffering from Israeli restrictions on aid. Al-Sharif experienced the loss of his father early in the war in an airstrike on the family's home. And he came to anticipate death. In a pre-written statement published after his killing, he says that through pain and suffering, he never once hesitated to convey the truth. Eya Batrawi, MPR News.

7:57That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.