Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, just three days after the Alaska Summit, during which Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy will be under immense pressure to cede land, considering that Trump reiterated his stance on social media on Sunday that Zelenskyy can “end the war with Russia immediately” and there was “no getting back Crimea” and “no going into NATO by Ukraine”.
On his part, the Ukrainian President too made his stance clear through a post wherein he stressed the need for security guarantees. “Peace must be lasting,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post to X. “Not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East—part of Donbas—and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack. Or when Ukraine was given so-called ‘security guarantees’ in 1994, but they didn’t work.”
Trump is also toeing Putin’s line of ceasefire materialising if Ukraine handed over its easternmost Donbas region, including parts that Russia doesn’t control.
European leaders accompany Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy is being accompanied to the White House by European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
However, Trump will meet first with Zelenskyy before sitting with European leaders who are expected to put across their views on how to bring an end to the 30-month-long full-scale Russian invasion.
Many believe the European leaders decided to accompany Zelenskyy to avoid him being bullied by Trump, like how it happened last February. Zelenskyy was asked to leave the White House by the Trump administration after he was bullied for not wearing a suit.
Reports claim Finnish President Alexander Stubb, described as “one of Trump’s favorite interlocutors,” is accompanying Zelenskyy to help deal with Trump. So is NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who shares a warm bond with Trump.
However, a top US diplomat rubbished the “stupid media narrative” that European leaders are traveling to Washington to prevent Zelenskyy from being bullied into a bad deal. “They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied...We’ve been working with these people for weeks, for weeks on this stuff,” the diplomat told CBS interview.
Zelenskyy had flown to Brussels on Friday and met with European leaders on Sunday, where his allies extended their support for Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty, agreeing that state borders cannot be changed by force.
Merz is advising Zelenskyy
German media reports claim that Merz was going to Washington to try and emphasize “interest in a swift peace agreement in Ukraine.” Merz will provide Zelenskyy with “some good advice” before his meeting with Trump.
The chancellor said he feels it is his duty to share guidance with the Ukrainian leader. “The president asked for advice. He also saw that my meeting with Donald Trump went quite differently from his. We have already discussed this in detail,” Merz told local media.