The White House has once again put the issue of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's appearance on the agenda ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington.
Trump's team has asked Ukrainian officials whether Zelensky will wear a suit for his meeting with the US president, which will begin around 8:00 p.m. Bulgarian time, the American website Axios reported, citing its sources.
Sources said Zelensky would be wearing the same black jacket he wore to the NATO summit in The Hague in June. It was also the first time since the war that the Ukrainian president had donned more formal attire. Trump, the sources said, was pleased.
According to Axios, the Ukrainian president was advised to wear a suit to the White House before his meeting with Trump in late February.
Then Trump and his deputy J.D. Vance got into a verbal confrontation with the Ukrainian president and accused him of not being grateful enough for American aid, not wanting to negotiate with Russia, and gambling on World War III, writes Mediapool.
According to Axios sources, Trump was offended that Zelensky was not in a suit, but in his traditional military-style attire since the beginning of the war. Some American officials believed that the attire was one of the reasons why the meeting turned into a diplomatic fiasco.
A Trump adviser told Axios that"it would be a good sign of peace if Zelensky wore a suit" to Monday's meeting, but the Trump administration has no such expectations.
However, officials expect the meeting between the two to go far differently than the previous one.
The question of the suit and a bottle of vodka
During his visit to the Oval Office in late February, Zelensky was asked by Brian Glenn, a correspondent for the right-wing website Real America's Voice, why he didn't wear a suit. Glenn also accused him of showing disrespect for the United States.
"I'll wear a suit when this war is over. Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better. Maybe something cheaper," Zelensky said at the time.
Glenn, who Sky News reports is meeting with far-right Republican congresswoman and prominent spokesperson for the Make America Great Again (MAGA) political movement Marjorie Taylor, boasted that he received a bottle of vodka as a gift from a Russian journalist during the meeting between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
"Look what the Russian media gave me! I found a lost camera belonging to one of the reporters in the Russian media, and he was so grateful that he gave me this (a bottle of vodka - b.a)! Cheers to building world peace," he wrote on the social network "Ex".
Zelensky is already in Washington
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said upon his arrival in Washington that he hoped the"shared power" of the United States and Europe would force Russia to conclude a peace agreement, Reuters reported.
"I am grateful to the US President for the invitation. We all equally want this war to end quickly and safely," he said on Telegram.
The bilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian leader will take place today at 20:15 Bulgarian time at the White House. Nearly two hours later, Trump will participate in a unilateral meeting with European leaders. They will try to protect Ukrainian interests after the meeting between Trump and Putin on Friday did not produce the desired result of a ceasefire, and it seems that Trump will want Zelensky to make significant compromises.
Earlier today, Trump wrote on his social network"Truth Social" that Zelensky "could end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wanted to, or he could continue to fight," but said that Ukraine would not join NATO or take back Crimea.
Russia is demanding the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from parts of Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions and the abandonment of the country's plans to become a member of NATO in order to stop the war. However, these conditions are unacceptable to Ukraine, which says it will not make territorial concessions in the territories occupied by Russia.
