European leaders to join Zelenskyy for Washington meeting with Trump
European and NATO leaders announced on August 17 that they would join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington to present a united front in talks with President Donald Trump to end the Russia War in Ukraine and strengthen the US security guarantees now on the negotiation table.
The leaders of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland gather around the Ukrainian president after his exclusion from Mr. Trump’s summit on August 15 with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their commitment to be to Mr. Zelenskyy’s team at the White House on August 18 is an apparent effort to ensure that the meeting takes place better than the last in February, when Mr. Trump reprimanded Mr. Zelenskyy during an oval office heated meeting.
“Europeans are very afraid of the rehearsal of the scene of oval offices and they therefore want to support Mr. Zelenskyy at the handle,” said retired general, Dominique Trinquand, former head of the military mission of France at the United Nations.
“It is a power struggle and a position of force that could work with Trump,” he said.
Putin agreed at his summit in Alaska with Mr. Trump that the United States and its European allies could offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling the collective mandate of NATO defense as part of a possible agreement to put an end to the war of 3 1/2 years, said the Steve Witkoff Special American Shipping in an interview on August 17.
It was “the first time that we hear that the Russians have accepted this,” said Witkoff, who called him “who changes the situation”.
Later, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the European delegation would ask Trump to support the plans they have written to strengthen the Armed Forces of Ukraine – already the largest outside of Russia – with more training and equipment to ensure peace.
“We need a credible format for the Ukrainian army, this is the first point, and say – Europeans and the Americans – how we will form them, equip them and finance this long -term effort,” said the French chief.
The plans written by Europe also envisage an allied force in Ukraine far from the front lines to reassure kyiv that peace will hold and dissuade another Russian invasion, said Macron. He spoke after a video call of almost two hours on August 17 with nations in Europe and further – including Canada, Australia and Japan – which are involved in the so -called “Coalition of the Willing”.
“Several thousand men on the ground in Ukraine in the Peace Zone” would point out that “our destinies are linked,” said Macron.
“This is what we have to discuss with the Americans: who is ready to do what?” Mr. Macron said. “Otherwise, I think that Ukrainians simply cannot accept theoretical commitments.”
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said earlier at a press conference in Brussels with Mr. Zelenskyy that “we welcome the will of President Trump to contribute to type 5 security guarantees for Ukraine. And the coalition of volunteers ” – including the European Union – is ready to do its part. »»
Mr. Macron said that the security of the security substance will be more important than to know if a type 5 label is conceived.
“A theoretical article is not enough, the question is that of the substance,” he said. “We have to start by saying that the first security guarantees for Ukraine is a solid Ukrainian army.”
With Ms. Von Der Leyen and Mr. Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also said that they would participate in the discussions of August 18, just like the secretary general of the NATO military alliance, Mark Rutte.
The support of European leaders could help to alleviate concerns in kyiv and in other European capitals that Ukraine risks making the railway in a peace agreement.
Neil Melvin, director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute based in London, said that European leaders were trying to “shape this rapidly evolving program”. After the summit of Alaska, the idea of a cease-fire appears to be abandoned, the story moving towards Mr. Putin’s agenda to ensure that Ukraine does not join NATO or even the EU.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said NBC’s “Meet The Press” on August 17 that a possible ceasefire was “not outside the table” but that the best way to put an end to war would be by a “complete peace agreement”.
Mr. Putin suggested that he considered Europe as an obstacle to negotiations. He also resisted the meeting of Mr. Zelenskyy in person, affirming that such a meeting can only take place once the bases of a peace agreement.
Addressing the press after meeting Mr. Trump, the Russian chief raised the idea that kyiv and other European capitals could “create obstacles” to derail potential progress with “behind the scenes”.
For the moment, Mr. Zelenskyy offers Europeans the “only way” to embark on the discussions on the future of Ukraine and European security, explains Mr. Melvin de Rusi.
However, the large number of European leaders potentially present means that the group will have to be “aware” not to give “contradictory,” said Melvin.
“The risk is that they seem heavy and smoothed on Trump,” he added. “Trump will not want to be put in a corner.”
Although the details remain foggy about type 5 security guarantees in the United States and Europe would imply for Ukraine, it could reflect the conditions of membership in NATO, in which an attack on an alliance member is considered an attack on all.
Mr. Zelenskyy continues to underline the importance of the involvement of the United States and Europe in any negotiation.
“A security guarantee is a solid army. Only Ukraine can provide this. Only Europe can finance this army, and weapons for this army can be provided by our domestic production and our European production. But there are certain things that are rare and are only available in the United States,” he said at the press conference on August 17 alongside Ms. Von Der Leyen.
Mr. Zelenskyy also rejected the assertion of Mr. Trump – who dressed up with the preference of Mr. Putin – that the two parties should negotiate a complete end in war, rather than guaranteeing a cease -fire first. Zelenskyy said that a ceasefire would provide a breathing room to examine Mr. Putin’s requests.
“It is impossible to do it under the pressure of arms,” he said. “Putin does not want to stop the murder, but he has to do it.”
– Leicester reported the PECQ, in France. The writers of the Associated Press Pan Pylas in London and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
