. >> and let's bring in cnn's clare sebastian. she joins us live from london. lare, good morning to you. so how has the surge of the far right in germany shaped the debate on ukraine aid from germany? and does russia see an opening here? >> yeah. you know, rosemary, i think it's interesting. russia will and frankly already is going to pick up that line that we heard from alice weidel and her co-chair in that press conference. now that because of their surge in support, now at 20%, they cannot be ignored. and it's undemocratic to do so. we've heard already this morning from a russian senator, prominent russian senator, who said, you know, according to the preliminary numbers, about a third of voters voted for a party that doesn't share the current policy in germany, on russia and ukraine. and those votes will not be taken into account, he said, and i quote, this is how exemplary german democracy works. so russia looks for any excuse, really, in countries that it sees as unfriendly, to undermine their democratic processes, to emphasize the sense of chaos. and they

clare sebastian also in london joining us now. so clare, europe feeling very much out in the cold.o they've set up this emergency summit in paris. what's expected to come of that as they watch for tuesday to see what happens with these negotiations just between the united states and russia? >> yeah. rosemary said, things are moving extremely fast. this is a hastily convened meeting. not all of europe is involved. a handful of countries, as well as secretary general of nato and the president of the european commission, it was only confirmed that it was happening by the elysee palace on sunday night. so things are moving really quickly, and this really is about europe trying to project its own authority here in the face of the u.s., which has said pretty clearly that it doesn't think at this point that europe is going to have a seat at the negotiating table. although, of course, we have seen inconsistencies emerge in that, among other things that we've heard from from u.s. officials over the past week. this week of political whiplash that we've seen playing out now. look, u.k. prime

. >> cnn's clare sebastian is in london with all the latest. clare. this all comes as european leaders are sitting down to figure out what their role in these talks and the future of the conflict is. >> yeah, absolutely. kayla. i think the key for europe right now is one to stay relevant. there is a significant sense of concern that they are going to be left to front the security guarantees to foot the bill for ukraine, while at the same time not getting a real say in how this war eventually ends if and when it does. so that's why we've seen these sort of emergency meetings with european leaders. there was one that happened on monday in paris. now we see top european leaders, ursula von der leyen, the head of european commission and the head of the eu council meeting with general kellogg, trumps russia ukraine envoy. i think look, they're trying to stay relevant. they're also trying to preserve a u.s. role in the future of european security. there's an element of realism here, right? the u.s. says europe needs to take more responsibility. europe is aw

clare sebastian nick paton walsh, thank you. i want to continue this conversation with retired army lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. he was director for european affairs at the national security council. he was also a whistleblower on the trump call with zelenskyy back in 2019. colonel, thank you so much for joining us. so, um, first of all, what do you think about this and the fact that zelenskyy has postponed his trip to saudi arabia? how significant do you think that that is? >> i'm not sure if. >> it's really all that significant. i think part of the issue here is that this meeting in saudi arabia was billed as, um, ukraine peace talks. it wasn't it was more of a standard affair reset. uh, in u.s. russia relations. it was an effort to normalize. and this is exactly the consequence of trump's call with putin, where they said that they need a they need to kind of start talking again. uh, that direction was was fulfilled here in these meetings in saudi arabia. but it wasn't really a dive into the peace talks. now, whether

joining me now is cnn correspondent clare sebastian. she's in brussels. claire, i wonder when you speak to nato officials there, european leaders, diplomats, et cetera., do they see now the u.s. preparing to abandon ukraine? is that how they read these comments? >> well. >> they're certainly not saying that, jim, we've had sort of a collective response from leaders yesterday, which was to say very little not to engage with questions on the rhetoric coming out of the trump administration, not to engage with the idea that those those sort of concessions, as it sounded like that pete hegseth made in terms of, you know, offering up potentially some of moscow's key demands that they were not a capitulation to moscow. so there was a sort of paralysis yesterday as they tried to deal with these unexpected remarks. i think what we're seeing today is a hardening of the response. nato officials are coming out and saying, look, nothing can be decided for ukraine without ukraine. we heard that from the secretary general. we've heard that from the uk defense secretary,

cnn's clare sebastian is in london. she's tracking much more on this. clare, how worried are european leaders about the the possibility of them being completely left out of talks to end this war in ukraine? >> yeah. >> i think you can. >> tell that there is. >> significant concern. >> by how hastily convened this meeting in paris was. >> it was. >> only confirmed by the elysee. >> palace on sunday night that it was happening, and it includes not all european leaders, but a significant quantity. this is a measure, i think, of the level of concern after this week of political whiplash that we've seen with nato, with the ukraine defense contact group and then with the munich security conference. i think the big fear in the short term for europe is that they could be left to front the security guarantees for ukraine and to foot the bill, essentially to implement a peace deal that they haven't necessarily been involved in deciding. that is the big fear in the short term. that is why i think this summit in some ways is a is a moment of counter-programming. eur

. >> clare sebastian is joining us. klepper.hat more do we know about these potential meetings and talks and whether, in fact, they will happen? well, so we don't know anything at this point other than what trump appears to have said on sunday night to reporters saying that the talks are scheduled. he didn't say who with. he simply said with ukraine and russia. but we've just heard from the kremlin this morning, dmitry peskov coming out and saying, look, trump didn't say that exactly. he's saying that actually, if you listen closely to trump, he's simply saying that talks are actually planned, which of course, both sides have said that they are involved in doing and willing to sort of engage with each other in talks. and meanwhile, of course, ukraine is very worried, given the noises that we've heard, certainly out of russia, that they might be shut out of these talks. and this is why i think this comment around elections from keith kellogg, the russia ukraine envoy of trump's administration is interesting because he's saying ho

here to discuss all of this, cnn's salma abdelaziz and clare sebastian.est developments with me from paris. so much to discuss. but first, let's just get to you, as we have seen marco rubio just landing there in saudi arabia, i think so many still reeling for the pace at which these meetings are taking place. and a big question still over who is going to be in the room. what more do we know about who is going to be taking part? >> i mean, i'm experiencing whiplash because this was supposed to be a trip about the middle east. we had understood that the secretary of state was there to discuss the details of gaza and president trump owning it instead. now it's twisted in. it's a meeting on ukraine taking place tomorrow. and the big question, as you know, is, is ukraine going to be involved? president zelenskyy said he wasn't even invited to this meeting. and what the u.s. is pushing is a dual track negotiation. so a trump's special envoy for russia and ukraine, keith kellogg, will be in ukraine this week speaking with ukrainian officials, while others, inclu

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. >> let's bring in cnn's clare sebastian here with us in london. when we talk about that relationship, it's obviously defined by what president trump said, describing zelenskyy as a dictator. interesting to see, you know, in another part of that press conference, president zelenskyy actually offering to resign, effectively saying, well, if you do think i'm a dictator, i will go. but there is a negotiation to be done there too. >> yeah, i think this is really calling on all of his leadership. and i think rhetorical skills, which he has shown over the past three years, how to deal. now, as we are on the third anniversary of the war, with this biggest reversal in u.s. foreign policy in living memory, it's gone from a country that sort of has elevated him, allowed him to speak before a joint session of congress. you remember that biden offered him a ride out of the country at the beginning of the war to one that, you know, publicly attacks him and is publicly parroting the kremlin line on pushing for elections in ukraine, which seeks to de-legitimize h