Trump's day of reckoning as leaders stand with Zelensky after humiliating Putin talks

Daily Mirror

9 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders arrive in Washington to stand united with Volodymyr Zelensky as he faces a US president who, just days earlier, extended a red carpet welcome to Vladimir Putin
Christopher Bucktin is an award-winning journalist with more than 25 years of experience, the majority of which he has spent at the Daily Mirror. A former Press Gazette Reporter of the Year, he has held senior roles including Head of Features, Head of Showbusiness, and Head of Content, before relocating to the United States in 2013 to become US Editor. Renowned for breaking agenda-setting exclusives, he has reported from the front lines of America's biggest news stories, led investigations into the Trump administration, and exposed key details in the Jeffrey Epstein case. His career highlights include securing the first interview with the Peru Two inside prison, becoming the first journalist to descend into drug lord El Chapo's escape tunnel, and spearheading coverage of Prince Andrew's ties to Epstein. He holds weekly columns in the Daily Mirror, Daily Star and Reach's regional titles.
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Sir Keir Starmer and fellow European leaders have descended on Washington to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Volodymyr Zelensky as the Ukrainian president confronts a man who only days ago rolled out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin.
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The US President spent much of his White House campaign trail thumping his chest with boasts. More than 50 times, he told cheering crowds that he would end the war in Ukraine 'within 24 hours' of taking office.
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Again and again, he claimed that if he had been in power, the war would never have started in the first place. Both boasts now lie in tatters. The Alaska summit with Putin was meant to showcase Trump the dealmaker. Instead, it exposed him as flawed, deferential, and hopelessly outmanoeuvred.
Allowing Putin to speak first in Alaska after the talks - a small but telling moment - made Trump look like the junior partner. No amount of flag-waving bravado can disguise the reality: he weakened himself on the world stage by indulging a proven killer dictator while offering nothing for peace, security, or freedom.
The fallout has left Trump raging.
Last night, he fired off a dizzying barrage of Truth Social posts, lashing out at critics, mocking a Democrat senator as 'unattractive,' and boasting of his beloved White House flags. It was the behaviour of a man floundering, not leading.
Instead of statesmanship, America saw a man consumed by petty feuds and thin-skinned fury. His tirades continued late into the night, with Trump defending his failed meeting as if sheer volume could erase the stench of surrender. That is why today's meeting matters.
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Zelensky has endured bullying from Trump before, when he was treated not as a partner but as a pawn in Trump's grubby domestic political games.
But this time, the Ukrainian president does not walk into the White House alone. Europe is at his side. And Europe knows the stakes. Putin's war is not just against Ukraine. It is against the very principle that free nations should choose their own destiny.
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Every concession Trump might dream of making to Moscow would strengthen the Kremlin, weaken NATO, and invite further aggression. That is why Starmer and Europe's leaders must keep their foot firmly on Trump's throat. They must deny him any room to turn Ukraine's agony into another tawdry transaction.
Trump wanted Alaska to be his triumph. Instead, it revealed his folly. Today, Europe has the chance to ensure it becomes his reckoning.
Because the truth is clear: the war did not end in 24 hours. It did not end with handshakes in Alaska. And it will not end with backroom deals in Washington. It will only end when Putin is forced to understand that free nations, from Kyiv to Kansas, will not bow to his terror.
Trump has shown the world he cannot be trusted with that task. Today, Europe must make sure America sees it too..