EU leaders start arriving at White House for Ukraine meeting

Washington, DC [US], August 18 (ANI): Ahead of the meeting with US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European leaders have started arriving at the White House.

French President Emmanuel Macron, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as well as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and EU leader Ursula von der Leyen, have already arrived at the White House.

Rutte, von der Leyen and Starmer were the first to turn up, after meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.

Trump's meeting with Zelensky comes days after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, as Trump tries to establish a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators have been gathering near the White House ahead of Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy.

They are urging the US president to stand with Ukraine and calling for sanctions on Russia, among other punitive responses.

During the Alaska summit, President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin made "great progress" but did not emerge from today's summit with a deal on the war in Ukraine. Trump and Putin also addressed a gathering of journalists after the talks with relatively brief pre-prepared statements. Neither leader took any questions, according to Al Jazeera.

Putin said his country is committed to ending the war, but the conflict's "primary causes" must be eliminated for an agreement to be long-lasting.

Putin also warned Ukraine and the European Union against throwing a "wrench in the works" and cautioned against attempts to use "backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress," as per Al Jazeera.

Trump praised the "extremely productive meeting", in which he said "many points were agreed to". He said there is a "very good chance of getting there" - referring to a ceasefire - but conceded that there remain sticking points with Moscow, including at least one "significant" one.

He cautioned that it's "ultimately up to them" - referring to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "There's no deal until there's a deal," he said. (ANI)

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