After the meetings of this Monday of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, with that of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, and with seven European leaders a new summit is prepared. In a message on his social network Truth, the American has announced preparations for Zelenski to meet with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, in a place and date still to be determined. That appointment would be followed by a posterior in which the two enemies and Trump himself would participate. Moscow has reacted coldly to Washington’s proposal. “Putin and Trump have discussed the idea of raising the level of Russian-Ukrainian direct negotiations,” Yuri Ushakov’s presidential advisor has limited himself.
In his message on his social network, Trump has described his multilateral meeting on Monday at the White House as “very good.” And he has revealed that participants addressed “security guarantees for Ukraine”, which will be provided “by several European countries, with the United States coordination.”
“At the end of the meeting I called President Putin and started the preparations for a meeting, in a place to be determined, between Putin and Zelenski. After that meeting, we will have a trilateral between the two presidents and myself,” he added.
Relief and optimism have characterized the meeting in the White House between Trump and Zelenski, an appointment to which a multilateral has followed with the seven European leaders who have accompanied Ukraine to support him. “A peace agreement is something very possible to achieve,” said the American, who has even set a term: “In a week or two we will know if we can solve this or continue this horrible war …”.
The meeting has elapsed very differently from that of February 28, When Trump submitted Zelenski to public humiliation. This time, both have exchanged jokes and smiles in a seemingly relaxed environment. That complicity has continued at the subsequent meeting with the Europeans: the American has undertaken in praise about how “respected” their guests are, and they have repeated one by one their gratitude for the efforts of their host to achieve peace.
On this occasion, Zelenski has been flanked in Washington by a large European delegationin which the most powerful European leaders are and/or those who have the best relationship with the American: the presidents of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; From France, Emmanuel Macron, and Finland, Alexander Stubb, at the time occasional golf companion of the Republican. Also the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz; The prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, and Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, who in recent times has been undone on flattery towards Trump. Macron has described as “very important” an eventual trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelenski and Putin and added that, if that meeting gave, a meeting that includes Europe should be organized.
Zelenski and Europeans begin to see concrete progress on the table. Trump has been committed in public to help Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace agreement that ends the war of Russian aggression. He has not given more details. But, asked about it, he has not ruled out that he could deploy US forces on the ground.
But next to the Arena, the Republican has given another of lime: as he had already declared after his meeting with the Russian president last Friday in Alaska, he has reiterated that he does not consider a truce as a condition for peace negotiations, despite the fact that several European representatives have explicitly claimed them.
“To be honest, we would all like to see the fire,” Merz added. “I cannot imagine that the next meeting can take place without a stop.
Trump has also pointed out that the next step will be a meeting between Zelenski and Putin, where he could also participate as a mediator. Previously, he had said: “If everything goes well today, we will have a trilateral. And I think there will be a reasonable possibility of ending the war when we do it.”
The president has pointed out that once the meetings on Monday at the White House will conclude, he will call Putin on the phone, Who was seen on Friday in Alaska. According to him, he has been in contact with the Russian president indirectly before his appointment with Ukraine.
The American, that hours before I had declared that it depended on Zelenski to achieve peace, He pointed out that this Monday’s conversations “are not the end of the road.”
No demand for high fire
The great achievement that takes home Zelenski is the promise of security guarantees – although exactly what they would consist of. kyiv claims that these measures be legally binding and include specific defensive steps in case of a new Russian attack.
“All of them [los europeos] They will be involved, but there will be a lot of help when it comes to security. They will have a lot of help and it will be good. They are the first line of defense because they are there, they are Europe, but we are going to help them, ”Trump emphasized. Zelenski, when asked about what kind of security guarantees requires, he replied:” All. “
Trump’s warmth at this meeting contrasted with his comments a few hours before. Three days after having met with the chief of Kremlin in Anchorage, The American put Ukraine in El Ukranian and demanded, through social networks, to accept a peace agreement. Its interlocutor also resorted to the messages on the Internet to make it clear that it was not going to accept any assignment of territories, despite what the Russian part claims.
The meeting between Trump and Zelenski has begun around 13.15 hours of Washington (19.15 Spanish peninsular time) after greeting to the two leaders at the entrance of the west wing of the White House. On this occasion, the Ukraine has worn a black suit: in its last appearance in the Oval Office, on February 28, its appearance without a formal jacket – in its place it carried its usual military uniform since the beginning of the Russian in large scale of February 2022 – then won the first reproaches of what ended up being a spectacular, and televised anger, and televised, of Trump and the vice president, JD Vance. This time, on the other hand, the president has pointed out his jacket when greeting him, showing that he appreciated the change of attire.
The swords were high after the summit in Alaska. Trump seemed to have assumed Putin’s arguments. After arriving in Anchorage in search of a high fire and threatening the Russian with “serious consequences” in case of not getting it, at the exit of the meeting the American announced that he stopped demanding that truce to enter directly into peace talks, as the Kremlin wanted. The Republican also transmitted to Zelenski and the Europeans the proposal of Moscow for the end of hostilities: staying with all the Donbás Ukraine (the provinces of Lugansk and Donetsk), including the territory under kyiv control, in exchange for stabilizing the front line.
If after that meeting Trump came out declaring that peace depends on Zelenski – and not on the aggressor country – on the eve of this Monday’s encounter further increased the pressure on Ukraine. In a message on social networks, he insisted that the responsibility of an agreement falls to kyiv: the leader of the occupied country, “he wrote,” the war with Russia can end almost immediately if you want, or you can continue fighting. ” He added that Ukraine will have to resign not to recover the Crimea Peninsulaoccupied by Moscow since 2014, and to definitely see its access path to NATO.
Security guarantees
Zelenski, meanwhile, arrived in Washington determined to underline its interlocutor that Ukraine claims credible security guarantees in any type of negotiated solution to which you can reach. Guarantees that, as pointed out by the White House negotiator, Steve Witkoff, the United States may be willing to assume, after months in which Trump rejected that type of commitment.
The objective of the European delegation was to wrap Ukraine at a crucial summit and avoid repetition of the unpleasant scene six months ago. But, above all, leaders wanted to make it clear that between Ukraine and Europe there is no crack. That act in a coordinated way and to make clear their position to the tenant of the White House: that kyiv must have a voice and vote in the negotiations to resolve the conflict, and that the solution should not be cooked alone between Washington and Moscow, in a formula in which kyiv must resign to assume terms that seem unacceptable. As Macron said on Sunday: the idea is that “there are no debates about Ukraine without the Ukrainians, or debates about security in Europe without Europeans.”
“We have to hit” in the solution, insisted the British Starmer in statements from the official plane that transported Washington. “There is too much at stake,” he said. Immediately before the meeting with Trump, the Europeans and Zelenski held a final meeting to prepare the bilateral between the American and the Ukrain, to tie the last ends and make sure that the coordination between all of them was perfectly greased.
The majority of leaders in Europe are clear about it: the stability and security of the continent depends on what the future of Ukraine is going to be: if the occupied country maintains its independence, its democracy and prosperity, or if, on the contrary, it becomes a weak and constantly threatened state. “We are not just accompanying Zelenski. We are going to defend the interests of Europeans […] Europe does not want to be at the table of great discussions as a topic of debate. Europe must be sitting at the table to talk about itself and its future, ”Macron said on Sunday.
