Volodymyr Zelenskyy — and a cadre of European leaders — met Donald Trump in the White House on Monday for critical talks on war with Russia, with the U.S. president putting the onus on Ukraine to reach a peace deal prior to the summit.
Trump said following the meeting that arrangements were beginning for a meeting between Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin, after the U.S. president called his Russian counterpart during the summit with European leaders.
After a high-stakes one-to-one with Putin in Alaska on Friday, Trump had ratcheted up pressure on Kyiv to cede land to Moscow. Zelenskyy has warned doing so would mean Ukraine loses key defensive positions and would be more vulnerable to Russian attacks in the future.
Kyiv and its allies are pushing for security guarantees, to safeguard both the future of Ukraine and Europe at large — which were discussed on Monday. EU leaders are set to gather for an emergency debrief Tuesday.
Catch up on all the action of the seismic talks between Zelenskyy and co. and the maverick U.S. president here.