Trump and Zelenskyy's meeting with European leaders marks a historic moment
Shortly after noon, one by one, the heads of state and NATO partners passed the White House gates, where they were met by President Donald Trump's chief of protocol, and in Zelenskyy's case, by Trump himself.
Some met with Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and other officials that morning. Others made their way to the White House directly from Dulles and other airports. They were there to bolster Zelenskyy after a disastrous White House visit in February, when he clashed with Trump and Vice President JD Vance — and after Trump held a nearly three-hour one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
The show of support for Zelenskyy involved French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who pivoted from their own national agendas to present a united front as Trump seeks an urgent end to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The display took place within days of Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska and ahead of a possible Trump-brokered meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy as Trump casts himself as a potential peace broker.
Inside the Oval Office on Monday, evoking a boardroom scene, Trump sat behind the Resolute desk, military flags at his back, as Zelenskyy and the European delegation faced him, as reflected in a photo shared by the White House. Made of oak timbers taken from a British ship, the desk is a hulking 19th century reminder of goodwill between important allies, a gift from Britain's Queen Victoria to the United States. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are seen orbiting in the background, along with senior White House staff members.
There are few precedents for the gathering, which merged diplomacy with Trump's usual verve.
In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt hosted Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland to sign the Atlantic Charter, laying out the Allied aims for the end of World War II and meetings that would decide the fate of Europe and Asia. During the Cold War, summits in Washington helped decide the terms of German reunification. They included meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev amid a key question over whether Germany would join NATO. And in 1950, the British prime minister rushed to Washington to consult Harry Truman over fears of the possible use of nuclear weapons during the Korean War.
'Washington has often been the scene of these great moments of diplomacy. But it was the speed with which this came together that was so striking and sets this apart,' said Marc Selverstone, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. 'Everyone realized this was a crisis moment.'
The urgency was reflected in how quickly the past few days' events came together: Trump's talks with Putin on Friday were followed by the leaders' arrival in Washington on Monday morning. 'Every single one of them got on a plane 48 hours later and flew to the United States of America,' said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, rushing to Washington in a bid to keep momentum toward peace in Ukraine alive.
The day also offered other made-for-TV moments, as Trump escorted the leaders to a gift shop of sorts, which he dubbed the 'Monica Lewinsky room' in reference to a former president's trysts, where he showed off rows of fire engine red hats emblazoned with his campaign slogans, including one for 2028. At another point, Trump deflected a question to Zelenskyy about Ukraine's elections to joke about serving a third term himself.
Told through photos shared online by his team, Trump presented a towering figure in Monday's meetings. In a picture posted by deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, Zelenskyy stood before a map of Ukraine as Trump looked down at him. Another image posted by the White House showed Trump seated behind his historic desk, this time with Vance and Rubio before him, the phone handset resting on the desk as he talked with Putin.
For Zelenskyy, Monday also offered a reset. After a tense Oval Office meeting this year, he struck a more diplomatic tone Monday, offering Trump and others his thanks more than a dozen times, including for the invitation, for Trump's efforts 'to stop killings and stop this war,' for Melania Trump's letter to Putin asking him to protect children, for a program to purchase American weapons and to the European partners for their support. On his X account, he offered profuse, continued thanks well into Tuesday.
Wearing a suit instead of his usual military fatigues, he told Trump as he greeted him that the attire was 'the best I had.'
'I love it,' Trump said, ultimately sharing a video of the warm exchange on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Asked what his message to the people of Ukraine was, Trump told a reporter, 'We love them.'
Vance, who had publicly clashed with Zelenskyy in their last White House meeting, also sought to smooth relations, posting a photo of their handshake.
Finland's participation carried its own symbolic weight, with one reminder of a path out of a seemingly intractable conflict with a nuclear-powered Soviet Union, which Stubb referred to directly.
'We, of course, have our own historical experience with Russia from World War II, the Winter War and the War of Continuation,' Stubb said. 'And if I look at the silver lining of where we stand right now, we found a solution in 1944, and I'm sure we'll be able to find a solution in 2025.'
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