EPAEuropean leaders have said they will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.
Those travelling include UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
It comes after Trump failed to reach a deal on ending the war in Ukraine during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
The US president has since said he wants to bypass securing a ceasefire in Ukraine in favour of a permanent peace agreement.
Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine had been one of Trump’s core demands before meeting Putin, but afterwards posted on social media that they “often times do not hold up” and that it would be better “to go directly to a peace agreement”.
European leaders have reacted with caution to the outcome of the Trump-Putin meeting, seeking not to criticise the change of direction despite their long-held support for a ceasefire.
Putin reportedly presented Trump with a peace offer that would require Ukraine withdrawing from the Donetsk region of the Donbas, in return for Russia freezing the front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Russia claims the Donbas as Russian territory, controlling most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk. It also illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The BBC’s US partner CBS has reported, citing diplomatic sources, that European officials were concerned Trump may try to pressure Zelensky into agreeing to the possible terms discussed in Alaska when they meet on Monday.
Ukraine’s president has previously ruled out ceding control of the Donbas – composed of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions – saying it could be used as a springboard for future Russian attacks.
Von der Leyen, who is meeting Zelensky in Brussels on Sunday, wrote on X that she would join Zelensky at the White House at the Ukrainian president’s request.
Macron, Rutte, Sir Keir, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni all followed in quick succession.
Downing Street said in a statement that it “follows the Prime Minister commending President Trump’s efforts to end Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, reasserting his position that the path to peace cannot be decided without President Zelensky”.
Monday’s White House meeting will be Zelensky’s first since an acrimonious public exchange in the Oval Office in February, when Trump told him to be more “thankful” for US support and accused him of “gambling with World War Three” in front of the world’s media.
In unprecedented scenes, Zelensky was told to leave the White House, but European leaders have since worked to repair the relationship.
The two leaders appeared to reconcile in April, in what the White House described as a “very productive” 15-minute meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.
Ukraine has also signed a minerals deal that gave the US a financial stake in the country, and Kyiv made it clear they were willing to pay for US arms.
But there will have been concern in Kyiv and other European capitals following the Trump-Putin meeting on Friday.
The Russian president, who is facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, stepped off his jet and onto a red carpet to be warmly received by Trump, who later said they had a “fantastic relationship”.
Ukraine’s ket demand has been a quick ceasefire so that talks on a longer-term settlement do not take place on the backdrop of continued fighting.
Zelensky said following the Alaska summit that a “real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions”.
European leaders have managed to maintain good relations with Trump since his return to the White House, with Sir Keir building an especially warm relationship with the US president.
