{"id":80236,"date":"2025-08-19T15:37:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/80236\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:37:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:37:23","slug":"zelenskyy-european-leaders-woo-trump-away-from-putin-with-suits-golf-and-praise-at-ukraine-peace-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/80236\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskyy, European leaders woo Trump away from Putin with suits, golf and praise at Ukraine peace talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 What a difference a suit makes.<\/p>\n

After his February fiasco in the Oval Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “fabulous” fashion decision<\/a> \u2014 as well as the golf club, personal letter and supportive European leaders<\/a> he brought with him \u2014 appear to have helped shift the mood of his high-level White House talks on peace with Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Kremlin publicly smarted, a sense of relief swept through Ukraine and across Europe after the summit Monday with President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n

Zelenskyy hailed it Tuesday as \u201ca truly significant step\u201d toward ending the war.<\/p>\n

His team came away from the talks relieved that worst case scenarios were avoided and pleased that Trump now appears to recognize the crucial importance of security guarantees for Kyiv to secure any peace agreement \u2014 and the need for the U.S. to play a role in those arrangements, a source familiar with the Ukrainian government\u2019s thinking told NBC News.<\/p>\n

Russia may never agree to such a concept and Trump may yet change his mind, but for the moment, they were satisfied with the day\u2019s conversations, the source said.<\/p>\n

Trump told “Fox & Friends” that the U.S. could provide air support as part of such an arrangement, but ruled out American troops on the ground. <\/p>\n

Changing outfits \u2014 and mood<\/p>\n

That optimism was thanks at least in part to the tone set by the Ukrainian leader’s arrival in a blazer-style jacket and collared shirt, a departure from his trademark military garb.<\/p>\n

A fixation on attire might seem trivial given the stakes as the world leaders gathered to discuss ending the brutal conflict, but style mattered here. <\/p>\n

For Europe\u2019s leaders, the meeting was about optics as much as substance: A chance to undo any ground Russian President Vladimir Putin may have gained with Trump in Alaska last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d Trump said as he greeted Zelenskyy, no doubt sparking a sigh of relief from the suited gaggle of European heads of state who had flown in determined to avoid a repeat of February’s bust-up, when Zelenskyy was lambasted for not wearing a suit and accused of disrespecting the White House.<\/p>\n

\"USTrump met with Zelenskyy at the White House for about an hour, before meeting with European leaders to work toward a breakthrough.Aaron Schwartz \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy had clearly adjusted his approach to diplomacy beyond his outfit, opening with a flurry of 11 \u201cthank yous\u201d in four and a half minutes, a striking contrast with February when he was branded ungrateful. <\/p>\n

The Ukrainian leader forged family ties, handing his host a letter from Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska to be delivered to American first lady Melania Trump. Zelenskyy also presented Trump with a golf club, a gift passed on to him by a wounded Ukrainian soldier.<\/p>\n

“You look fabulous in that suit,” said the reporter who took Zelenskyy to task about his outfit in February. <\/p>\n

\"US-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY\"Trump struck a more friendly tone in the meeting, despite entering it having insisted that Ukraine must abandon any hope of joining NATO or reclaiming Crimea.Mandel Ngan \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy himself didn\u2019t leave empty handed. Trump handed him \u201csymbolic keys to the White House,\u201d the Ukrainian president\u2019s office said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He was not alone in working to woo the American leader even as the discussion turned to the knotty details of ceasefires and security guarantees.<\/p>\n

It was no accident the European contingent included figures with reputations for charming Trump, a delegation curated to curry favor who took every opportunity to shower Trump with praise for his efforts to break the deadlock with Moscow. <\/p>\n

\"EuropeanTrump said Europe was \u201cthe first line of defense” in Ukraine, but “we\u2019ll be involved.\u201dWin McNamee \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething has changed, thanks to you,\u201d said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really want to thank you for your leadership,\u201d opined NATO chief Mark Rutte.<\/p>\n

The substance of the talks remains murky, but Trump refrained from blaming Europe and appeared to enjoy the onslaught of flattery while even offering some in return. <\/p>\n

He complimented German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on his tan and showed off a shelf of MAGA hats to Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron. <\/p>\n

And the spectacle did not go unnoticed in Moscow.<\/p>\n

The newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets said European leaders had begun negotiations with \u201coutright bootlicking,\u201d while outlet Argumenty said Zelenskyy had \u201chumiliated\u201d himself in the White House.<\/p>\n

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev scoffed that Europe had \u201cthanked and sucked up\u201d to Trump, while sneering at Zelenskyy’s sartorial choice. “The question is which tune the Kiev clown will play about guarantees & territories back home, once he\u2019s put on his green military uniform again,” he said.<\/p>\n

In his own apparent attempt at flattery, Medvedev opined that Europe\u2019s leaders had \u201cfailed to outplay\u201d Trump.<\/p>\n

In Ukraine, however, the mood was positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis round of talks was won by Ukraine and its allies outright,\u201d Serhii Kosiianchuk, a 39-year-old account manager from Kyiv, told NBC News. He said he was \u201cimpressed\u201d by the meeting, adding that \u201cprevious mistakes\u201d had been taken into account.<\/p>\n

But the theater may have overshadowed the thinness of concrete results. <\/p>\n

Welcoming the contrast to the “fiasco” of February, graphic designer Kateryna Gonchar, 38, was nonetheless cautious about the path forward. Zelenskyy had clearly worked with a large team “so as not to annoy Trump even more, and to show that we are ready to make certain concessions,” she said.<\/p>\n

Many analysts agreed.<\/p>\n

Europe’s leaders had “bent over backwards to butter up Trump,” but the war “doesn’t look any closer to resolution,” said Michael Bociurkiw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s very, very important to separate spectacles from facts and what\u2019s really going on on the ground,” he said in a phone interview, citing Russian attacks that killed 10 people in Ukraine just hours before the Washington meeting and new attacks early Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentTrump had caused alarm among allies after seemingly adopting Putin’s position of pursuing a full peace deal rather than a ceasefire.Andrew Harnik \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Trump said he intended the next step to be a direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, while European leaders reconvened later Tuesday.<\/p>\n

They focused on the issue of security guarantees, after Trump’s more positive tone offered cause for optimism but also questions about the sacrifices Ukraine may have to make in order to secure them.<\/p>\n

European planning teams “would meet with their U.S. counterparts in the coming days to further strengthen plans to deliver robust security guarantees and prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended,” a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said.<\/p>\n

Daryna Mayer reported from Kyiv, Freddie Clayton from London and Dan de Luce from Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 What a difference a suit makes. After his February fiasco in the Oval Office, Ukrainian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-80236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}