Europeans to back Zelenskiyy in Washington as Trump presses Ukraine deal

Business Recorder

18 hours ago

LONDON/KYIV/WASHINGTON: European leaders will join Volodymyr Zelenskiyy to meet Donald Trump in Washington, they said on Sunday, seeking to shore up Zelenskiyy's position as the U.S. president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years.
Trump is leaning on Zelenskiyy to strike an agreement after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first.
Trump and Zelenskiyy will meet on Monday. It is expected that they will have a bilateral meeting prior to the European leaders joining a larger conversation, according to a person briefed on the conversation.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on scheduling details.
'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,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS' 'Face the Nation.'
Trump discussed Ukraine in several social media posts on Sunday. In one, he promised 'BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA' in a social media post without specifying what this might be. In another, he said Zelenskiyy could end the war 'almost immediately, if he wants to' and seemed to indicate that reclaiming Crimea and joining NATO are off the table for Ukraine.
In a post on his Truth Social social media, Trump said: 'Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!'
Sources briefed on Moscow's thinking told Reuters the U.S. 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.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to international organizations in Vienna, said Russia agreed that any peace agreement on Ukraine must provide security guarantees to Kyiv.
'Many leaders of #EU states emphasize that a future peace agreement should provide reliable security assurances or guarantees for Ukraine,' Ulyanov said on social media platform X.
'Russia agrees with that. But it has equal right to expect that Moscow will also get efficient security guarantees.'
Top Trump officials hinted that the fate of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region - 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's 'State of the Union' on Sunday, suggesting this would be in lieu of Ukraine seeking NATO membership. He said it 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 defense, in which an attack on any member is considered an attack on all.
That pledge may not be enough to sway Kyiv to sign over Donbas.
Ukraine's borders were already meant to be guaranteed when Ukraine surrendered a nuclear arsenal in 1994, which proved to be little deterrent when Russia absorbed Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
The war has killed or wounded more than 1 million people.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting of allies on Sunday to bolster Zelenskiyy's hand, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a U.S. role.
The Europeans are eager to help Zelenskiyy avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office meeting in February when Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave the Ukrainian leader a public dressing-down, accusing him of being ungrateful and disrespectful.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has played rounds of golf with Trump this year, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, an admirer of many Trump policies.
European show of unity
European leaders at the Sunday meeting projected unity, welcoming U.S. talk of a security guarantee but stressing no discussions over territory could take place without Kyiv's involvement and clear arrangements to safeguard the rest of Ukraine's land.
Some called for an immediate ceasefire, which Trump originally said he was trying to secure during his summit with Putin. Trump later changed course and agreed with the Russians that peace negotiations could come without a ceasefire, an idea dismissed by some of Ukraine's European allies.
'You cannot negotiate peace under falling bombs,' Poland's foreign ministry said in a statement.
A joint communique released by Britain, 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.'
Some European countries, led by Britain and France, have been working since last year on such a plan, but others in the region remain reluctant to become involved militarily.
Zelenskiyy said on X there had been 'clear support for Ukraine's independence and sovereignty' at the meeting. 'Everyone agrees that borders must not be changed by force.'
He said any prospective security guarantees 'must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air, and at sea, and must be developed with Europe's participation.'
Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine would need to make concessions to reach a peace deal and security guarantees for Ukraine would be discussed on Monday.
He also said there must be additional consequences for Russia if no deal was reached.
'I'm not saying we're on the verge of a peace deal, but I am saying that we saw movement, enough movement to justify a follow-up meeting with Zelenskiyy and the Europeans, enough movement for us to dedicate even more time to this,' Rubio told broadcaster CBS.
Zelenskiy to visit US, Trump speaks with European leaders after Putin summit
Putin briefed his close ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, about the Alaska talks, and also spoke with Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Trump said on Friday Ukraine should make a deal to end the war because 'Russia is a very big power, and they're not.'
After the Alaska summit, Trump phoned Zelenskiyy and told him the Kremlin chief had offered to freeze most front lines if Ukraine ceded all of Donetsk, a source familiar with the matter said. Zelenskiyy rejected the demand.