Ukraine and Europe woo Trump away from Putin with suits, golf and praise

Kyiv, Ukraine – What a difference is a costume makes a costume.

After his February fiasco in the oval office, the “fabulous” fashion decision by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – as well as the golf club, the personal letter and the European support leaders he brought with him – seem to have helped to change the mood of his discussions of the high -level white house in peace with Russia.

While the Kremlin has publicly published a feeling of relief swept Ukraine and across Europe after the summit on Monday with President Donald Trump.

Zelenskyy praised him on Tuesday as “a really important step” towards the end of the war.

His team came from talks relieved that the worst cases have been avoided and happy that Trump now seems to recognize the crucial importance of security guarantees for kyiv to obtain any peace agreement – and the need for the United States to play a role in these arrangements, a familiar source with the thought of the Ukrainian government told NBC News.

Russia can never accept such a concept and Trump could still change their minds, but for the moment, they were satisfied with the conversations of the day, said the source.

Trump told “Fox & Friends” that the United States could provide air support as part of such a arrangement, but have excluded American troops on the ground.

Change the outfits – and the mood

This optimism was thanks to at least in part to the tone given by the arrival of the Ukrainian leader in a Blazer style jacket and a collar shirt, a departure from his brand military costume.

A fixation on the outfit may seem trivial given the issues when the world leaders met to discuss the end of Brutal conflict, but the style counted here.

For the leaders of Europe, the meeting focused on the optics as much as the substance: a chance to cancel all Russian terrain on the ground Vladimir Putin may have won with Trump in Alaska last week.

“I love it,” said Trump, welcoming Zelenskyy, undoubtedly triggering a sigh of relief from the European state troop that had stolen from avoiding a repetition of the break in February, when Zelenskyy was castigated so as not to wear a costume and accused of disrespect for the White House.

Zelenskyy had clearly adjusted his approach to diplomacy beyond his outfit, opening with a burst of 11 “thank you” in four and a half minutes, a contrast that struck with February while he was marked ungrateful.

The Ukrainian leader has forged family ties, putting a letter from the Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska back to his host to be delivered to the first American lady Melania Trump. Zelenskyy also presented a golf club to Trump, a gift that was transmitted to him by an injured Ukrainian soldier.

“You look fabulous in this costume,” said the journalist who took Zelenskyy about her outfit in February.

Zelenskyy himself did not start from empty hands. Trump gave him “symbolic keys to the White House,” the Ukrainian president’s office on Tuesday in a statement.

He was not the only one to work to court the American leader even though the discussion turned to the knotty details of the ceasefires and security guarantees.

It was not an accident that the European contingent included personalities with reputation for Charming Trump, a delegation organized for Curry the favor that took advantage of each opportunity to shake Trump with praise for his efforts to break the dead end with Moscow.

“Something has changed, thanks to you,” said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“I really want to thank you for your leadership,” said NATO chief Mark Rutte.

The substance of the talks remains cloudy, but Trump has refrained from blaming Europe and seemed to take advantage of the assault on the flattery while offering some in return.

He complimented the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on his tan and showed a hats shelf Maga in Zelenskyy and French president Emmanuel Macron.

And the show did not go unnoticed in Moscow.

The newspaper Moskovskij Komsomoletes said that European leaders had started negotiations with “the pure and simple box”, while the argument of the outlet said that Zelenskyy had “humiliated” in the White House.

The former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, made fun of Europe had “thanked and aspired” to Trump, while laughing at the choice of Zelenskyy. “The question is what melody the kyiv’s clown will play on the guarantees and territories at home, once it is back on its green military uniform,” he said.

In his own apparent flattery attempt, Medvedev said European leaders had “failed to get ahead of”.

In Ukraine, however, the atmosphere was positive.

“This series of talks has been won by Ukraine and its allies,” a 39 -year -old account of kyiv’s 39 -year account. He said he was “impressed” by the meeting, adding that “previous errors” had been taken into account.

But the theater may have overshadowed the thinness of concrete results.

The welcome of the contrast to the February “fiasco”, graphic designer Kateryna Gonchar, 38, was nevertheless careful about the way to follow. Zelenskyy had clearly worked with a large team “so as not to bother Trump even more and show that we are ready to make certain concessions,” she said.

Many analysts have accepted.

The leaders of Europe had “leaning back to butter Trump”, but the war “does not seem closer to the resolution,” said Michael Bociurkiw, a principal researcher to the Reflection Group of the Atlantic Council.

“It is very, very important to separate the glasses from the facts and what is really happening on the ground,” he said during a telephone interview, citing Russian attacks that killed 10 people in Ukraine just a few hours before the Washington meeting and new attacks early on Tuesday.

Trump said he had the next step to be a direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, while European leaders met on Tuesday later.

They focused on the issue of security guarantees, after Trump’s more positive tone offered a cause of optimism, but also questions about the sacrifices that Ukraine will have to make them to secure them.

European planning teams “would meet their American counterparts in the coming days to further strengthen plans to provide solid security guarantees and prepare for the deployment of comfort strength if hostilities took the end,” said a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Daryna Mayer reported kyiv, Freddie Clayton from London and Dan by Luce de Washington.