WASHINGTON — The future of Ukraine may depend on an urgent meeting at the White House on Monday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is bringing together a remarkable group of European leaders to present a united stance to U.S. President Donald Trump against Russia.
The European leaders were not included in Trump’s recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and aim to defend Ukraine and Europe from expanding Russian aggression. Many are attending specifically to ensure Ukraine’s protection in a notable display of diplomatic unity.
By gathering as a collective, they seek to prevent mishaps like Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump last February in the Oval Office, where Trump criticized him for not being sufficiently thankful for U.S. military support. Trump and Zelenskyy planned to meet in the Oval Office prior to the European leaders joining them for discussions in the East Room.
FILE – President Donald Trump welcomes Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025.
AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File
These meetings will also challenge America’s ties with key allies, especially after the European Union and United Kingdom accepted Trump’s tariffs partly for his backing on Ukraine.
“It’s crucial that America agrees to cooperate with Europe to secure Ukraine, and therefore all of Europe,” Zelenskyy posted on X.
However, on the eve of the meeting, Trump hinted that the responsibility lay with Zelenskyy to make compromises and insinuated that reclaiming Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, might be unattainable for Ukraine.
“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote Sunday night on social media. “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!!!”
Zelenskyy appeared to respond with his own post late Sunday, saying, “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably.” He said that “peace must be lasting,” not as it was after Russia seized Crimea and part of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine eight years ago, and “Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack.”
The sitdown in Alaska yielded the possible contours for stopping the war in Ukraine, though it was unclear whether the terms discussed would ultimately be acceptable to Zelenskyy or Putin.
Zelenskyy said in a social media post he met with Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Monday ahead of his scheduled talks with Trump to discuss the battlefield situation and the shared “strong diplomatic capabilities” of the U.S., Ukraine and Europe.
European heavyweights in Washington
Planning to join Zelenskyy in Washington are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
On the table for discussion are possible NATO-like security guarantees that Ukraine would need for any peace with Russia to be durable. Putin opposes Ukraine joining NATO outright, yet Trump’s team claims the Russian leader is open to allies agreeing to defend Ukraine if it comes under attack.
“Clearly there are no easy solutions when talking about ending a war and building peace,” Meloni told reporters in Washington ahead of the meeting. “We have to explore all possible solutions to guarantee peace, to guarantee justice, and to guarantee security for our countries.”
The European leaders are aiming to keep the focus during the White House talks on finding a sustainable peace and believe forging a temporary ceasefire is not off the table, according to a European official.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the leaders are also looking to keep pressure on Russia to end the fighting and want to get more concrete assurances from the U.S. about security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any deal.
Trump briefed Zelenskyy and European allies shortly after the Putin meeting. Details from the discussions emerged in a scattershot way that seemed to rankle the U.S. president, who had chosen not to outline any terms when appearing afterward with Putin.
Ahead of Monday’s White House meetings, Trump took to social media to say that even if Russia said, “We give up, we concede, we surrender” the news media and Democrats “would say that this was a bad and humiliating day for Donald J. Trump.” He separately lashed out at the Wall Street Journal and other outlets “who truly don’t have a clue, tell me everything that I am doing wrong on the Russia/Ukraine MESS.”
Following the Alaska summit, Trump declared that a ceasefire was not necessary for peace talks to proceed, a sudden shift to a position favored by Putin.
‘A very big move’
European officials confirmed that Trump told them Putin is still seeking control of the entire Donbas region, even though Ukraine controls a meaningful share of it.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the U.S. and its allies could offer Ukraine a NATO-like commitment to defend the country if it came under attack as the possible security guarantee, with details to be worked out.
Monday’s meeting will likely be very tough for Zelenskyy, an official close to the ongoing talks said. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak openly about thinking within Ukraine and between allies.
Zelenskyy needs to prevent a scenario in which he gets blamed for blocking peace talks by rejecting Putin’s maximalist demand on the Donbas, the official said. It is a demand Zelenskyy has said many times he will never accept because it is unconstitutional and could create a launching pad for future Russian attacks.
If confronted with pressure to accept Putin’s demands, Zelenskyy would likely have to revert to a skill he has demonstrated time and again: diplomatic tact. The Ukrainian leadership is seeking a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump and Putin to discuss sensitive matters, including territorial issues.
Trump’s ambition to end the war
A
fter enduring a public tirade by Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February, Zelenskyy worked to repair relations with the U.S.
Constant diplomatic communication and a 15-minute meeting at the Vatican in April on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral helped turn the tide. Trump appeared at the time to be swayed by Zelenskyy’s conditions for peace.
But Trump says he cares primarily about ending the war, an ambition that led him after his meeting with Putin to discard the need for a ceasefire.
European allies also have worked with Trump, reaching a deal in July for NATO allies to buy weapons from the U.S. for Ukraine.
Russian forces continued to pound Ukraine with missiles and drones. A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killed seven civilians late Sunday.
Putin spoke with the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa Monday to discuss his meeting with Trump in Alaska, the Kremlin said. He also spoke with leaders in Central Asia and the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, it said.
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Kullab reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Washington, John Leicester in Le Pecq, France, Illia Novikov in Kyiv and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia and Nicole Winfield in Rome, contributed.
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