Zelenskiy says Alaska summit should open path to Ukraine-Russia-US talks

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was important that Friday's Russia-U.S. summit in Alaska opened up a path towards a "just peace", as well as substantive three-way talks between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and the United States.

"It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were due to meet at a Cold War-era air force base in Alaska on Friday to discuss a ceasefire deal for Ukraine that the U.S. sees as a possible way to end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two.

Trump said he would not negotiate on behalf of Ukraine in the meeting and would let Kyiv decide whether to engage in territorial swaps with Russia.

"Indeed, high stakes. The key thing is that this meeting should open up a real path towards a just peace and a substantive discussion between leaders in a trilateral format – Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian side," Zelenskiy said.

This week, Zelenskiy held a meeting with European leaders, and on Friday agreed with the French president to meet after the U.S.-Russia summit.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Yuliia Dysa; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Mark Heinrich and Alex Richardson)