Leaders of Germany, France and Britain said Sunday they will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington for talks with Donald Trump, seeking to bolster him as the U.S. president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal.
A day before the talks with Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were hosting a meeting of allies on Sunday to shore up Zelenskyy's position, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a U.S. role.
President Trump is leaning on Zelenskyy to strike an agreement after he met Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska. According to sources, the U.S. and Russian leaders discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.
At face value, some of Putin's demands would be hugely difficult for Ukraine to accept, setting the stage for potentially fraught talks about ending Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, which has dragged on for 3 1/2 years and killed or wounded more than 1 million people.
European allies are keen to help Zelenskyy avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office meeting, in February. That went disastrously, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance giving the Ukrainian leader a public dressing-down, accusing him of being ungrateful and disrespectful.
