European leaders to join Zelensky, Trump for talks
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be among those also in Washington, aiming to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Washington on Monday seeking an end to Moscow’s invasion, after President Donald Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire following his Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, more than three years after the Kremlin ordered the invasion, had been one of Trump’s core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not invited.
But after a meeting that yielded no clear breakthrough, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a move that would appear to favour Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal.
Ukraine and its European allies have criticised it as a way to buy time and press Russia’s battlefield advances, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen among the leaders set to try and bend Trump’s ear on the matter.
Ahead of the Washington visit on Monday, von der Leyen said on X she would welcome Zelensky for a meeting in Brussels on Sunday, which other European leaders would join by video call, before accompanying the Ukrainian leader on his US trip at his “request” with “other European leaders”.