KYIV – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Europe’s leaders will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on Aug 18 to map out a peace deal, amid fears that Mr Trump could try to pressure Kyiv into accepting a settlement favourable to Moscow.
The European leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland and Nato hope to shore up Mr Zelensky at a crucial diplomatic moment in the war and prevent any repetition of the bad-tempered Oval Office encounter between Mr Trump and Ukraine’s leader in February.
Mr Trump will meet Mr Zelensky first at 1.15pm (1.15am on Aug 19, Singapore time) in the Oval Office and then all the European leaders together in the White House’s East Room at 3pm, the White House said.
After rolling out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug 15, Mr Trump said an agreement should be struck to end the 42-month-long war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.
“Russia is a very big power, and they’re not,” Mr Trump said of Ukraine afterwards.
However, Mr Zelensky
the outline of Mr Putin’s proposals at that meeting, including for Ukraine to give up the rest of its eastern Donetsk region, of which it currently controls a quarter.
“We need real negotiations, which means we can
,” Mr Zelensky said in Brussels on Aug 17, adding that Ukraine’s Constitution made it impossible for him to give away territory.
More concerning for him is the fact that Mr Trump, who previously favoured Kyiv’s proposal for an immediate ceasefire to conduct deeper peace talks, reversed course after the summit and indicated support for Russia’s favoured approach of negotiating a comprehensive deal while fighting rumbles on.
“I am grateful to the President of the United States for the invitation. We all equally want to end this war swiftly and reliably,” Mr Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app after arriving in Washington late on Aug 17. “Russia must end this war – the war it started. And I hope that our shared strength with America and with our European friends will compel Russia to real peace.”
Moscow’s unacceptable terms
The outline of Mr Putin’s proposals appears impossible for Mr Zelensky to accept. Ukrainian forces are deeply dug into the Donetsk region, whose towns and hills serve as a crucial defensive zone to stymie Russian attacks.
As part of any peace deal, Kyiv wants security guarantees sufficient to deter Russia – which took Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 and launched a full invasion in 2022 – from attacking again.
Fearing that they would be shut out of the conversation after a summit to which they were not invited, European leaders held a call with Mr Zelensky on Aug 17 to align on a common strategy for the meeting with Mr Trump on Aug 18.
to back Mr Zelensky may alleviate painful memories of Mr Zelensky’s
.“It’s important for the Europeans to be there: (Trump) respects them, he behaves differently in their presence,” Mr Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian lawmaker from Mr Zelensky’s ruling party, told Reuters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to CBS, dismissed the idea that the European leaders were coming to Washington to protect Mr Zelensky.
“They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Mr Zelensky from being bullied. They’re coming here tomorrow because we’ve been working with the Europeans,” he said. “We invited them to come.”
Relations between Kyiv and Washington, once extremely close, have been rocky since Mr Trump took office in January.
However, Ukraine’s pressing need for US weapons and intelligence sharing, some of which have no viable alternative, has forced Mr Zelensky and his allies on the continent to appease Mr Trump, even when his statements appear contradictory to their objectives.
On the battlefield, Russia has been slowly grinding forward, pressing home its advantages in men and firepower. Mr Putin says he is ready to continue fighting until his military objectives are achieved.
