Translated material
Zelensky will meet with Trump in Washington
They will be joined by European leaders, including the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, August 18. He announced this on Saturday, August 16, after their telephone conversation.
“A long and meaningful conversation with President Trump - first one on one, and then also with the participation of European leaders. In total, we spoke for more than an hour and a half, about an hour with President Trump. <…> We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine—America—Russia. Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and the trilateral format is suitable for this. He intends to discuss all the details of completing the killings and ending the war with President Trump in Washington on Monday. Thankful for the invitation,” Zelensky wrote on his social networks.
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European leaders will join Trump and Zelensky
He later added that during a conversation with Trump, he stated the need to strengthen sanctions if a trilateral meeting does not take place or if Russia avoids “a fair end to the war.”
According to AFP, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also took part in the conversation.
Following the conversation, they, as well as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and European Council President António Costa, issued a joint statement welcoming “President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression and achieve a just and lasting peace.”
Von der Leyen, Stubb, Starmer and Rutte will also take part in the Trump-Zelensky talks in Washington. According to media reports, Merz, Meloni and Macron will also travel to the United States.
According to the Financial Times, citing a senior Ukrainian official close to Zelensky, his goal at the meeting with Trump will be to launch a “productive peace process” without putting pressure on Ukraine to take impossible steps, such as withdrawing troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. To do this, the Ukrainian president is ready for an “acceptable compromise” along the current front line, which the Ukrainians can accept. The one-on-one meeting between Zelensky and Trump will begin at 20:15 (Moscow time), and the meeting with the participation of European leaders is scheduled for 22:00.
According to Axios, four days after the meeting with Zelensky, Trump wants to hold another, but this time trilateral, with the participation of Putin. The US President allegedly stated this to the President of Ukraine and European leaders after negotiations with Putin in Alaska.
“Confusion”, “zilch”, “our success”, “how did I look at Lethal Force” - this is how “Vestka” sources close to the Kremlin and experts assess the results of the meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska. The Russian authorities consider the summit a “victory for Putin,” who, in their opinion, managed to get the US President to abandon the idea of a ceasefire before the start of full-fledged peace negotiations.
Photo: US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the White House in Washington, USA, February 28, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
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