Zelenskyy Meets Trump Today, European Leaders Join Washington

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen/PHOTO via X @ZelenskyyUa

JAKARTA - European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington.

The European Coalition seeks to strengthen Zelenskyy's position, while Trump urges Ukraine to immediately accept a peace agreement to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years.

Trump urged Zelenskyy to reach an agreement after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and emerged with greater support from Moscow in seeking a peace deal, instead of a ceasefire first. Trump and Zelenskyy will meet on Monday, August 18.

"If peace is unlikely to materialize here and this will only continue like war, thousands of people will continue to die. Unfortunately we may end up there, but we don't want to end up there," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview on CBS.

Trump on Sunday promised " GREAT PROGRESS for RUSSIA" in social media posts without specifying what might be meant.

Sources familiar with Moscow's thoughts told Reuters US and Russian leaders had discussed proposals for Russia to release a small part of occupied Ukrainian territory in exchange for Kyiv to hand over most of the fortified territory to the east and freeze the front lines elsewhere.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to international organizations in Vienna, said Russia agreed any peace agreements related to Ukraine must provide security guarantees for Kyiv.

"Many leaders of #UniEurope countries emphasize that future peace agreements must provide reliable security guarantees for Ukraine," Ulyanov said in X.

"Russia agrees with that. However, Russia also has the right to expect Moscow to get efficient security guarantees," he continued.

Trump's top officials signal the fate of the Donbas region east of Ukraine, most of which are under Russian control, is on the brink, while a kind of defense pact is also being discussed.

"We managed to win the following concession, that the United States could offer the same protection Article 5," Trump's Trump envoy, Steve Witkoff, hinted that this would replace Ukraine, which wants to join NATO.

He said this was "the first time we've heard Russia agree to it."

Article 5 of the NATO founding agreement perpetuates the principle of collective defense stating that attacks against one member are considered an attack on all members.

The promise may not be enough to convince Kyiv to sign the Donbas agreement. The Ukrainian border was supposed to be guaranteed when Ukraine handed over its nuclear arsenal in 1994, which proved less effective when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.

The war has killed or injured more than 1 million people.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held an allied meeting on Sunday to strengthen Zelenskyy's position, in particular in hopes of securing strong security guarantees for Ukraine, including the US role.

Europe wanted to help Zelenskyy avoid a repeat of his last meeting in the Oval Room in February when Trump and Vice President JD Vance rebuked the Ukrainian leader in public, accusing him of being disrespectful and disrespectful.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has played golf with Trump this year, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.