By Samya Kullab and John Leicester | Related Press
KYIV, Ukraine — European and NATO leaders introduced Sunday they are going to be a part of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington to current a united entrance in talks with President Donald Trump on ending Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and firming up U.S. safety ensures now on the negotiating desk.
Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland are rallying across the Ukrainian president after his exclusion from Trump’s summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their pledge to be at Zelenskyy’s facet on the White Home on Monday is an obvious effort to make sure the assembly goes higher than the final one in February, when Trump berated Zelenskyy in a heated Oval Workplace encounter.
“The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Mr. Zelenskyy to the hilt,” mentioned retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France’s navy mission on the United Nations.
“It’s a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump,” he mentioned.
Putin agreed at his summit in Alaska with Trump that the U.S. and its European allies might provide Ukraine a safety assure resembling NATO’s collective protection mandate as a part of an eventual deal to finish the three 1/2-year warfare, particular U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
It “was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that,” mentioned Witkoff, who known as it “game-changing.”
Later, French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the European delegation will ask Trump to again plans they drafted to beef up Ukraine’s armed forces — already Europe’s largest outdoors of Russia — with extra coaching and gear to safe any peace.
“We need a credible format for the Ukrainian army, that’s the first point, and say — we Europeans and Americans — how we’ll train them, equip them, and finance this effort in the long-term,” the French chief mentioned.
The European-drafted plans additionally envision an allied pressure in Ukraine away from the entrance traces to reassure Kyiv that peace will maintain and to dissuade one other Russian invasion, Macron mentioned. He spoke after an almost two-hour video name Sunday with nations in Europe and additional afield — together with Canada, Australia and Japan — which are concerned within the so-called “coalition of the willing.”
The “several thousand men on the ground in Ukraine in the zone of peace” would sign that “our fates are linked,” Macron mentioned.
“This is what we must discuss with the Americans: Who is ready to do what?” Macron mentioned. “Otherwise, I think the Ukrainians simply cannot accept commitments that are theoretical.”
Macron mentioned the substance of safety ensures shall be extra necessary than whether or not they’re given an Article 5-type label.
“A theoretical article isn’t enough; the question is one of substance,” he mentioned. “We must start out by saying that the first of the security guarantees for Ukraine is a strong Ukrainian army.”
Together with Von der Leyen and Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb additionally mentioned they are going to participate in Monday’s talks, as will the secretary-general of the NATO navy alliance, Mark Rutte.
The European leaders’ assist might assist ease considerations in Kyiv and in different European capitals that Ukraine dangers being railroaded right into a peace deal.
Neil Melvin, director of worldwide safety on the London-based Royal United Providers Institute, mentioned European leaders are attempting to “shape this fast-evolving agenda.” After the Alaska summit, the thought of a ceasefire seems all however deserted, with the narrative shifting towards Putin’s agenda of making certain Ukraine doesn’t be a part of NATO and even the EU.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday {that a} potential ceasefire is “not off the table” however that one of the simplest ways to finish the warfare could be by way of a “full peace deal.”
Putin has implied that he sees Europe as a hindrance to negotiations. He has additionally resisted assembly Zelenskyy in individual, saying that such a gathering can solely happen as soon as the groundwork for a peace deal has been laid.
Talking to the press after his assembly with Trump, the Russian chief raised the concept that Kyiv and different European capitals might “create obstacles” to derail potential progress with “behind-the-scenes intrigue.”
For now, Zelenskyy provides the Europeans the “only way” to get into the discussions about the way forward for Ukraine and European safety, says RUSI’s Melvin.
Nevertheless, the sheer variety of European leaders doubtlessly in attendance means the group should be “mindful” to not give “contradictory” messages, Melvin mentioned.
“The risk is they look heavy-handed and are ganging up on Trump,” he added. “Trump won’t want to be put in a corner.”
Though particulars stay hazy on what Article 5-like safety ensures from the U.S. and Europe would entail for Ukraine, it might mirror NATO membership phrases, during which an assault on one member of the alliance is seen as an assault on all.
Zelenskyy continues to emphasize the significance of each U.S. and European involvement in any negotiations.
“A security guarantee is a strong army. Only Ukraine can provide that. Only Europe can finance this army, and weapons for this army can be provided by our domestic production and European production. But there are certain things that are in short supply and are only available in the United States,” he mentioned on the press convention Sunday alongside Von der Leyen.
Zelenskyy additionally pushed again towards Trump’s assertion — which aligned with Putin’s desire — that the 2 sides ought to negotiate an entire finish to the warfare, relatively than first securing a ceasefire. Zelenskyy mentioned a ceasefire would offer respiration room to evaluation Putin’s calls for.
“It’s impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons,” he mentioned. “Putin does not want to stop the killing, but he must do it.”
Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France. Related Press writers Pan Pylas in London and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
Initially Printed: August 17, 2025 at 2:50 PM PDT
