European leaders said they will join Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he meets US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, as they navigate Trump’s alignment with Russia’s position on ending the war.
After meeting Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Friday, Trump backed Putin’s preference for a sweeping peace deal, rather than an immediate ceasefire, which analysts say would let Moscow continue its battlefield gains, while pressing for territorial concessions from Ukraine.
But Kyiv and its European allies see hope in Washington’s proposal to offer Ukraine security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression.
For Putin, the Ukraine talks are less about ending the current conflict and more about clawing back Russia’s lost post-Cold War stature, The New York Times wrote.