Swedish prime minister to attend Sunday's 'Coalition of the Willing' meeting

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson will virtually attend Sunday's meeting with the "Coalition of the Willing", ahead of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's visit to Washington on Monday, a spokesperson from the prime minister's office told Reuters.

Kristersson will however not fly to Washington together with Zelenskiy alongside other European leaders on Monday, the spokesperson said.

The leaders of France, Germany and Britain will try to shore up Ukraine's position on Sunday as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy prepares to meet Donald Trump in Washington with the U.S. leader pressing Kyiv to accept a deal to end the war.

President Trump is leaning on Ukraine to strike an agreement after meeting Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska where, according to sources, the Russian president offered to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for vast swathes elsewhere.

At face value, some of Putin's demands would be hugely difficult for Ukraine to accept, setting the stage for potentially fraught talks about ending Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, which has killed or wounded more than 1 million people.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host a virtual meeting of the "coalition of the willing" - a grouping of allies of Kyiv - from 1300 GMT.

European powers want to help set up a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskiy to make sure Ukraine has a seat at the table to shape its future.