Europe leaders to join Zelenskyy for Trump ‘face-off’

European leaders including from Germany, France and Britain will accompany Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet Donald Trump in Washington, they said on Sunday, seeking to bolster him as Trump presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace agreement.

A day before the talks with Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were hosting a meeting of allies on Sunday to shore up Zelenskyy’s position, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a US role.

President Trump is leaning on Zelenskyy to strike an agreement after he met Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska.

According to sources, the US and Russian leaders discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.

European allies are keen to help Zelenskyy avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office meeting, in February. That went disastrously, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance giving the Ukrainian leader a public dressing-down, accusing him of being ungrateful and disrespectful.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, whose access to Trump included rounds of golf in Florida earlier this year, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is an admirer of many of Trump’s policies.

European powers want to help set up a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy to make sure Ukraine has a seat at the table to shape its future.

They also want security guarantees for Ukraine with US involvement, and the ability to crank up pressure on Moscow if needed.

For his part, Putin briefed his close ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, about the Alaska talks, and also spoke with Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held calls on Saturday with his Turkish and Hungarian counterparts.

Meanwhile, US’ Special envoy Steve Witkoff said that Putin agreed at the Alaska summit to allow the US and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defence mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war.

“We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,” he said. Witkoff said it was the first time he had heard Putin agree to that.

Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday’s summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to “robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing.”

He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear.

“It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said.