Zelensky says Russia ‘cynically' attacking Ukraine ahead of US talks as Trump rules out country reclaiming Crimea
European leaders will join Volodymyr Zelensky to meet Donald Trump in Washington, they said yesterday, seeking to shore up the Ukrainian leader's position as the US president presses him to accept a quick peace deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years.
Mr Trump is leaning on Mr Zelensky to strike an agreement after the US president met Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in Alaska and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first. Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky will meet today.
'If peace is not going to be possible here and this is just going to continue on as a war, people will continue to die by the thousands ... we may unfortunately wind up there, but we don't want to wind up there,' US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS's Face the Nation.
Mr Trump yesterday promised 'big progress on Russia' in a social media post, without specifying what this might be. Sources briefed on Moscow's thinking told Reuters the US and Russian leaders have discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.
Top Trump officials hinted that the fate of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region – which incorporates Donetsk and Luhansk and which is already mostly under Russian control – was on the line, while some sort of defensive pact was also on the table.
'We were able to win the following concession, that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection,' Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN yesterday, suggesting this would be in lieu of Ukraine seeking Nato membership. 'The United States could offer Article 5 protection, which was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.'
Article 5 of Nato's founding treaty enshrines the principle of collective defence – the notion that an attack on a single member is considered an attack on them all. That pledge may not be enough to sway leaders in Kyiv to sign over Donbas.
Ukraine's borders were already meant to have been guaranteed when Ukraine surrendered a Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in 1994, and it proved to be little deterrent when Russia absorbed Crimea in 2014 and then launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The war has now dragged on for more than three years and killed or wounded more than one million people.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz, French president Emmanuel Macron and UK prime minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting of allies yesterday to bolster Mr Zelensky's hand, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a US role. The Europeans are keen to help Mr Zelensky avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office meeting in February.
That went disastrously, with Mr Trump and vice-president JD Vance giving the Ukrainian leader a public dressing-down, accusing him of being ungrateful and disrespectful.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin attended the virtual leaders' meeting of the so-called 'coalition of the willing'.
Mr Martin, who will not be in Washington, said he had assured Mr Zelensky that Ireland will 'continue to steadfastly support Ukraine'.
'It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force,' he said. 'I fully agree that Ukraine needs strong, credible, long-term security guarantees. This will mean sustained support from Europe, the United States and other partners.'
A joint communique released by the UK, France and Germany after the meeting said their leaders were ready 'to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, and to help secure Ukraine's skies and seas and regenerate Ukraine's armed forces'.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finland's president Alexander Stubb, whose access to Mr Trump included rounds of golf in Florida earlier this year, and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who is an admirer of many of Mr Trump's policies.
'It's important that Washington is with us,' Mr Zelensky said alongside Ms von der Leyen on a visit to Brussels, saying the current front lines in the war should be the basis for peace talks. 'Putin does not want to stop the killing, but he must do it.'
Setting out red lines, Ms von der Leyen said Ukraine's allies wanted robust security guarantees for Ukraine, no limits to Ukraine's armed forces, and a seat at the table with Mr Trump and Putin for Ukraine to discuss its territory.
'As I've often said, Ukraine must become a steel porcupine, indigestible for potential invaders,' she said.
For his part, Putin briefed his close ally, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, about the Alaska talks, and also spoke with Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
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