Trump Zelensky Meeting LIVE updates: Ukrainian President, European leaders to meet Trump for high-stakes meeting shortly
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is all set to meet US President Donald Trump in a hastily assembled meeting on Monday, August 18. As Ukraine's future hinges on this meeting, Zelensky brings with him an extraordinary cadre of European leaders to show Trump a united front against Russia.
The European political heavy-hitters were left out of Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, and they are looking to safeguard Ukraine and the continent from any widening aggression from Moscow.
By arriving as a group, they hope to avoid any debacles like Zelensky's February meeting in the Oval Office, where Trump chastised him for not showing enough gratitude for American military aid.
European heavyweights in Washington
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte are planning to join Zelensky in America's capital.
On the table for discussion are possible NATO-like security guarantees that Ukraine would need for any peace with Russia to be durable. Putin opposes Ukraine joining NATO outright, yet Trump's team claims the Russian leader is open to allies agreeing to defend Ukraine if it comes under attack.
Here's a detailed schedule of the meeting:
Trump is expected to meet Zelensky at 10:45 p.m. IST (1715 GMT) on Monday at the White House, according to a press guidance statement issued by the White House on Sunday.
9:30 PM IST Monday - European leaders arrive at the White House
10:30 PM IST Monday: Trump to greet the president of Ukraine, stakeout location
10:45 PM IST, Monday: Trump to participate in a bilateral meeting with the president of Ukraine.
12:30 AM IST, Monday: Trump will participate in a multilateral meeting with European leaders.
Trump-Putin meeting
According to Trump's envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, the US President and Russia's Vladimir Putin had reached an agreement during their summit on providing 'robust security guarantees' for Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that a ceasefire was still possible but that 'the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal."
"How that's constructed, what we call it, how it's built, what guarantees are built into it that are enforceable, that's what we'll be talking about over the next few days with our partners who are coming in from overseas,' Rubio told NBC's 'Meet the Press.'
Although the summit failed to secure the ceasefire he said he had wanted, Trump said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had 'largely agreed'.
"I think we're pretty close to a deal," he said, adding: "Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they'll say 'no'."
What does Putin demand?
Peace proposals discussed during the Alaska summit involve Russia giving up small areas of occupied Ukrainian territory, while Ukraine would agree to hand over large parts of its eastern region that Moscow has so far failed to seize, sources briefed on Moscow's thinking told Reuters.
On the surface, some of the proposed terms would be extremely difficult for Ukraine's leadership to accept.
Putin's proposal reportedly excludes a ceasefire until a full agreement is reached directly opposing a major condition set by President Zelensky, as Ukraine continues to endure daily strikes from Russian drones and missiles.
Under the proposed Russian deal, Kyiv would fully withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in return for a Russian pledge to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the sources said.
Although the Americans have not spelled this out, the sources said they knew Russia's leader was also seeking - at the very least - formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
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