European leaders including Keir Starmer will join Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a White House meeting with Donald Trump on Monday in an extraordinary joint effort to push back on a US-backed plan that would allow Russia to take further Ukrainian territory.
As well as the UK prime minister, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, Italy’s PM, Giorgia Meloni, and the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, will all accompany Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will also attend.
The unprecedented show of support seems designed to prevent a repeat of the public mauling experienced by Zelenskyy during his last trip to the White House, in February, when Trump and the US vice-president, JD Vance, accused him of ingratitude and disrespect and told him: “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now.”
Trump, after his summit on Friday with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, has reportedly endorsed the Kremlin’s one-sided plan to end the war in Ukraine. It includes Kyiv giving up territory that Russia has been unable to seize and no ceasefire until a final deal has been agreed.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump accused the media of misrepresenting his “great meeting in Alaska” – an encounter widely seen as a victory for Putin and a humiliation for the US president. On Sunday, Trump claimed he had made “big progress” on Russia, without giving details.
European leaders on Monday will reaffirm their support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and argue against a land swap plan that rewards Russian aggression. They will also seek further clarity on what security guarantees the US is willing to offer in the event of a settlement.
In a conciliatory statement announcing his visit to Washington, Starmer praised Trump for his “efforts to end Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine”. At the same time, Starmer reasserted Europe’s red lines. He said the “path to peace” could not be decided without Zelenskyy and said Russia should be “squeezed” with further sanctions.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN that Putin had agreed for the first time for the US and Europe to provide protection to Ukraine as part of a deal. This would be outside the auspices of Nato but would be the equivalent of the alliance’s article 5 self-defence pact, Witkoff indicated.
Speaking in Brussels alongside von der Leyen, Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s latest demand for more land. The Russians want Ukraine to cede the entirety of the Donetsk region, including a number of Ukrainian-controlled cities, as well as Luhansk province, which Moscow mostly occupies.
Zelenskyy said Putin had been trying for 12 years to fully capture Donetsk oblast, without success. He said the current frontline should form the basis for negotiations, adding that territory could only be discussed in a three-way format with Kyiv at the table. A powerful Ukrainian army was the best security guarantee, he added.
Starmer, Merz and Macron hosted a video call with European allies on Sunday before their Washington trip. “Ukraine must be a steel porcupine, indigestible for potential invaders,” von der Leyen said, stressing there could be no Russian-mandated limits on Ukraine’s armed forces.
According to the New York Times, Trump told European leaders he believed a peace deal could be negotiated if Zelenskyy agreed to give up the Donetsk region. They were unconvinced. The EU shares the Ukrainian view that Putin would use any new territory as a springboard for a further attack.
Ukraine map
Two sources with direct knowledge of the talks in Alaska told the Guardian that Putin had offered to freeze the frontline in southern Ukraine if he got Donbas. The plan would mean thousands of civilians would be forced to abandon their homes in key eastern cities such as Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, which have withstood years of Russian attacks.
Before Friday’s Alaska summit, Trump said he wanted an immediate ceasefire. Over the weekend, however, the US president endorsed Russia’s demand for a peace deal first and a truce second. Ceasefires “often times do not hold up”, Trump said in a social media post.
Donald Trump greets Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Trump also appears to have dropped his threat of economic penalties on countries that buy Russian oil if Moscow refuses a deal. He has repeatedly threatened to impose secondary sanctions, setting various deadlines and failing to follow through when they expire.
Trump on Sunday expressed his frustration at recent media coverage. “It’s incredible how the Fake News violently distorts the TRUTH when it comes to me,” he posted. “There is NOTHING I can say or do that would lead them to write or report honestly about me. I had a great meeting in Alaska on Biden’s stupid War, a war that should have never happened!!!”
He added: “If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal.”
Speaking to the BBC, the former British defence secretary Ben Wallace described Trump’s apparent support for Putin’s demands as 1930s-style “appeasement”. He said the strategy – with pressure piled on Ukraine to agree – may save lives “in the short term” but in the long term “would probably put us at greater risk”.
A joint statement issued by European leaders on Saturday said they were “ready to work with US President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy towards a trilateral summit with European support” but “it will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.”
They said they welcomed “President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace”.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, the president of the European Council, António Costa, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, and the France defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, attend a video conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, last week. Photograph: Philippe Magoni/EPA
Zelenskyy said in a statement after his conversations with Trump and the European leaders: “The positions are clear. A real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions. Killings must stop as soon as possible, the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the sky, as well as against our port infrastructure. All Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians must be released, and the children abducted by Russia must be returned.”
Olga Tokariuk, a fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, said Zelenskyy had a “difficult task” in Washington. He had to “demonstrate that Ukraine wants peace, but not at any cost, to ensure Ukraine still gets US support,” she said. At the same time he could not make concessions “unacceptable for Ukrainians”.
Trump was unlikely to treat Zelenskyy with the “same friendliness as Putin”, she predicted. “The US under Trump is no longer willing to stand by its democratic allies, while instead it is embracing the tyrants,” she added.
Additional reporting by Peter Walker
