US President Donald Trump will meet first with his Ukrainian counterpart on Monday before opening the Oval Office doors to European leaders eager to offer their two Euro-cents and pence on how to bring an end to the 30-month-long full-scale Russian invasion.
European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will join them only afterward, Bild reported.
A working lunch and several hours of extended group discussions with the Europeans are planned only after the face-to-face meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky has been completed.
There had been analyses that the European allies were there to prevent the kind of “bullying” of Zelensky that the Ukrainian leader endured in the Oval Office when he visited in February, when Trump’s cabinet members and US Vice President JD Vance demanded that he apologize for his tie-less appearance in those once-hallowed halls and instructed him to be more grateful for the US aid previously granted by former US president Joe Biden.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visibly uncomfortable, embarrassed by the kind of welcome Zelensky was receiving at the time, sitting quietly during the obnoxious exchange and seemingly admiring the artwork on the walls instead.
But in a CBS interview on Sunday, the top US diplomat pushed back on the “stupid media narrative” that European leaders are traveling to Washington to prevent Zelensky from being bullied into a bad deal.
“They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied... We’ve been working with these people for weeks, for weeks on this stuff,” he said.
Rubio on Sunday also addressed the emotional difficulty of the current position between the US, Russia, and Ukraine after the meeting between Trump and Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska.
“It’s very difficult because Ukraine obviously feels, you know, harmed, and rightfully so, because they were invaded,” Rubio said. “And the Russian side, because they feel like they got momentum on the battlefield, and frankly, don’t care, don’t seem to care very much about how many Russian soldiers die in this endeavor.”
The German government, which confirmed Merz was going to Washington, said it would try to emphasize “interest in a swift peace agreement in Ukraine.”
Trump had briefed Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back from Alaska to Washington on Friday night, saying afterwards that “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war”.
While less comfortable with the idea of an immediate peace deal before a ceasefire is called, European partners in Brussels on Sunday emphasized their clear support for Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty, agreeing that state borders cannot be changed by force, and shared the position that key issues must be resolved with Ukraine’s participation in a trilateral format.
While the leaders welcomed the decision of the United States on its readiness to take part in European security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of any ceasefire or peace deal, Zelensky stressed that these guarantees must be practical, and provide protection on land, in the sky, and at sea, and be developed with Europe’s participation.