Some European leaders announced on Sunday that they will be joining Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his White House meeting with President Donald Trump, who on Friday met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska to move closer toward a peace deal.
Zelensky’s meeting with Trump will take place on Monday, days after the Ukrainian leader was excluded from the Trump-Putin summit. It will also come months after Zelensky last met with Trump at the White House, where the diplomatic conversation erupted into a heated argument in front of the press.
European leaders who support Ukraine’s war effort will stand by Zelensky’s side, hoping to avoid a similar blowup.
Zelensky will be joined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who confirmed they will participate in Monday’s meeting.
“At the request of President Zelenskyy, I will join the meeting with President Trump and other European leaders in the White House tomorrow,” von der Leyen wrote on X.
Zelensky arrived in Brussels on Sunday to meet with von der Leyen before traveling to the United States.
Putin continues pushing for “land swaps” in a possible agreement with Ukraine. Trump says such concessions are necessary, while Zelensky has so far remained opposed to the idea, although he is willing to discuss the issue only between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine.
“Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia and the trilateral Ukraine-United States-Russia,” Zelensky said in Brussels. “So far, Russia gives no sign that trilateral will happen, and if Russia refuses, then new sanctions must follow.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb are also expected to be in Washington, D.C., at the time of the meeting. However, it remains unclear whether they will directly take part in the talks between Zelensky and Trump.
The group of European delegates, who largely praised Trump’s summit with Putin, is united in its goal to help progress talks aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
After his meeting with Putin, Trump appeared to shift his focus from brokering a temporary ceasefire to a lasting peace deal.
EUROPEAN LEADERS CELEBRATE TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT AS RUSSIAN STRIKES CONTINUE
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” he wrote on Truth Social.
If the meeting with Zelensky goes well, Trump said, a trilateral meeting may be in the works. In a joint statement released Saturday, many European leaders backed the idea of a summit between Zelensky, Putin, and Trump.
