European leaders to join Zelensky and Trump for White House meeting
Ahead of the Washington talks on Monday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were hosting a meeting of allies on Sunday to shore up Zelensky's position, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a U.S. role.
Zelensky to meet Trump on Monday after U.S.-Russia summit failed to secure ceasefire
Despite Trump's impatience to broker a settlement in Russia-Ukraine War, Putin presents some obstacles to peace
President Trump is leaning on Ukraine to strike an agreement after meeting Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska. According to sources, the U.S. and Russian leaders discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.
At face value, some of Putin's demands would be hugely difficult for Ukraine to accept, setting the stage for potentially fraught talks about ending Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, which has killed or wounded more than 1 million people.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finland's President Alexander Stubb, whose access to Trump included rounds of golf in Florida earlier this year. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is an admirer of many of Trump's policies, will also go to Washington, her office said.
European allies are keen to avoid a repeat of Zelensky's last Oval Office meeting, in February. That went disastrously, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance giving the Ukrainian leader a strong public dressing-down.
'The talks will address, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues, and continued support for Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression,' the German government said in a statement about the Washington trip.
'This includes maintaining pressure on sanctions.'
Macron, Merz and Starmer will host a virtual meeting of the 'coalition of the willing' – a grouping of allies of Kyiv – from 1300 GMT on Sunday. Von der Leyen will host Zelensky in Brussels from where the two leaders will also dial in.
European powers want to help set up a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky to make sure Ukraine has a seat at the table to shape its future.
They also want security guarantees for Ukraine with U.S. involvement, and the ability to crank up pressure on Moscow if needed.
'They will spell out what they consider essential in terms of security guarantees: what they can do themselves, what falls to the coalition of volunteers, and also what they expect from the United States,' a European government official said. 'Indeed, they expect a very robust commitment.'
Trump said on Friday that Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because 'Russia is a very big power, and they're not.'
After the Alaska summit with Putin, Trump phoned Zelensky and told him that the Kremlin chief had offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv ceded all of Donetsk, the industrial region that is one of Moscow's main targets, a source familiar with the matter said.
Zelensky rejected the demand, the source said. Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.
Trump also said he agreed with Putin that a peace deal should be sought without the prior ceasefire that Ukraine and its European allies have called for. That was a reversal of his position before the summit, when he said he would not be happy unless a ceasefire was agreed on.
Zelensky said Russia's unwillingness to pause the fighting would complicate efforts to forge a lasting peace. 'Stopping the killing is a key element of stopping the war,' he said on X.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been gradually advancing for months.
In his statement after the Alaska summit, Putin signalled no movement in Russia's long-held demands, which also include a veto on Kyiv's desired membership in the NATO alliance.
He also warned Ukraine and its European allies not to 'create any obstacles. That they will not attempt to disrupt the emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigue.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Putin agreed to let U.S., Europe offer Ukraine NATO-style security guarantees, Trump envoy says
Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defence mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war. 'We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,' he said on CNN's State of the Union. He added that it 'was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that 'we welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine and the 'Coalition of the willing' – including the European Union – is ready to do its share.' European leaders to join Zelensky and Trump for White House meeting Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to 'robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing.' He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine. Zelensky thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear. 'It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,' he said, 'But there are no details how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees.' Witkoff defended Trump's decision to abandon his push for Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made. 'We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal,' Witkoff said, without elaborating. 'We began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal,' he said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted there would be 'additional consequences' as Trump warned before meeting with Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Rubio noted that there wasn't going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine wasn't at the talks. 'Now, ultimately, if there isn't a peace agreement, if there isn't an end of this war, the president's been clear, there are going to be consequences,' Rubio said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'But we're trying to avoid that. And the way we're trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities.' Analysis: Trump and Putin in Alaska is a study in contrasts Rubio, who is also Trump's national security adviser, said he did not believe issuing new sanctions on Russia would force Putin to accept a ceasefire, noting that the latter isn't off the table but that 'the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal.' 'The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to table will be severely diminished,' Rubio said on NBC's Meet the Press. He also said 'we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement' and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work. 'We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off,' Rubio said. Zelensky and Europeans leaders are scheduled to meet Monday with Trump at the White House. They heard from the president after his meeting with Putin. 'I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal, but we are on the path for the first time,' Witkoff said. He added: 'The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians – that could not have been discussed at this meeting' with Putin. 'We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon.'
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
‘All eyes are going to be on Zelenskyy': What to expect from Ukraine-U.S. meeting on Monday
Watch Former European and NATO policy deputy assistant secretary Jim Townsend on what EU leaders want from Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's meeting at the White House.
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelenskyy for meeting with Trump
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — European and NATO leaders announced Sunday they will join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump on ending Russia's war in Ukraine, with the possibility of U.S. security guarantees now on the negotiating table.
