Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with European leaders in London Monday as Europe vies for a role in the peace talks and Trump pressured Zelenskyy to accept the U.S.-backed plan.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Trump is repeating a familiar pattern. He suggests a peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. He or his negotiators talk to one side, then the other, and after talking to Russia, he puts President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the spot.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Here’s what Trump told reporters Sunday night at the Kennedy Center.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but I’m not sure that Zelenskyy is fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn’t read it.
FADEL: Ukrainian officials have been calling for changes to that White House proposal, which they see as favoring – perhaps even written by – Russia.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR’s Lauren Frayer is in London, where Zelenskyy is meeting with some of his European allies. So Lauren, Zelenskyy called weekend talks with President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner constructive, though not easy. Today in London, though, might be much different.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Much friendlier. Zelenskyy’s meeting today with leaders of Britain, France, Germany. They’re three of his biggest supporters, the three NATO countries with the biggest budgets besides the U.S., incidentally, and they’re leading a coalition of the willing to help defend Ukraine with aid, with weapons, possibly even with French and British peacekeepers on the ground if and when there is a peace deal. I asked Mujtaba Rahman, the Europe managing director at the Eurasia Group, it’s a risk analysis firm, and he said the goal of today’s meetings is…
MUJTABA RAHMAN: For leaders to put their arms around Zelenskyy to demonstrate that Europe remains very supportive of Ukraine in the Ukraine position, and then to inch the substance more closely to the Ukrainian and the European position.
FRAYER: And this is the next step of that pattern you mentioned, A, European leaders rallying behind Ukraine.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, late last week, the Trump administration published a revised national security strategy which referenced Europe quite a bit. And Lauren, it seems like it’s got a lot of people worried.
FRAYER: It sent chills down the backs of many leaders in Europe because it said immigration is leading to civilizational erasure in Europe, and it suggested that the U.S. would support far-right parties here. And perhaps most tellingly, the Kremlin spokesperson praised this document and said that it is in line with Russian president Vladimir Putin’s vision. And so this document has sort of fueled suspicion already existing here in Europe that the Trump administration is more aligned with Russia than its longtime allies and the rest of Europe, both in general and in these Ukraine talks.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. So then what does this then say about the U.S. relationship with Europe, as well, and also maybe the role of Europe in these negotiations?
FRAYER: Yeah. It’s another familiar pattern. You know, Europeans are fighting for a seat at the negotiating table here, and the Trump administration has been largely ignoring them. I mean, last week, a German magazine published a leaked transcript of a phone call among European leaders in which French President Macron and others said they’re worried that the U.S. will betray Ukraine in these talks. And these are talks that involve European security. I mean, the U.K. says Russian submarine incursions into its own waters have jumped 30% in the past two years. So you’ve got Europe scrambling to fund its own defense now, defense that was largely sort of guaranteed by the U.S. since World War II, and that’s no longer the case under the Trump administration.
MARTÍNEZ: That’s NPR’s Lauren Frayer in London. Thanks a lot.
FRAYER: You’re welcome.
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