Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has arrived in Washington, DC, and will be joined by European leaders when he meets Donald Trump in about 12 hours.
Trump is ratcheting up pressure on Ukraine to agree to terms to end the war with Russia, seemingly echoing some of Moscow’s talking points two days after meeting President Vladimir Putin.
Late on Sunday, Trump previewed the message he’ll deliver to his White House visitors: Zelensky must agree to some of Russia’s conditions for the war in Ukraine to end. The conditions he referred to — that Ukraine cede Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and that it agree never to join NATO — are among those Putin has set for ending the war.
The White House has signaled momentum toward a potential peace deal to end Russia’s war, with US envoy Steve Witkoff telling CNN that Putin has agreed to allow US security guarantees for Ukraine and made concessions on “land swaps”.
But many sticking points and questions remain.
Here’s what we know:
“Peace must be lasting”: After landing in Washington DC, Zelensky said he is confident that he can obtain security guarantees for Ukraine. He suggested new security guarantees would need to be stronger than those that “didn’t work” in the past, citing the loss of Crimea to Russia in 2014. Zelensky is scheduled to meet Trump for bilateral talks in the Oval Office before joining European leaders for broader discussions.
Largest delegation: Ahead of the talks, Trump said the White House had “Never had so many European Leaders at one time,” in a post on Truth Social Sunday, adding that it would be a “Big day” and that it was his “great honor to host them!!!”
Security guarantees: Putin has agreed to let Ukraine’s allies offer it NATO-style security guarantees as part of a possible peace deal, according to US envoy Steve Witkoff. A White House session will focus on creating a plan to protect Ukraine from future attacks, modelled on NATO’s Article 5, which treats an attack on one country as an attack on all. Witkoff — one of three American participants in Friday’s summit with Putin in Alaska — said this is a workaround to Russia’s demand that Ukraine never join NATO.
Europe “reassurance force”: Kyiv’s allies are ready to deploy a “reassurance force” to Ukraine once fighting stops, the British and French leaders said in a joint statement after co-chairing a virtual meeting Sunday with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other allies. Leaders of the “Coalition of the Willing” commended US President Donald Trump’s commitment to providing security guarantees to Ukraine, in which they pledged to play a “vital” role.
