Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with key European allies, will meet with US President Donald Trump in a meeting that could help determine the future of his country, even as Trump appears to have put the burden of ending the war with Russia on Zelensky.
"President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants, or he can continue to fight," Trump wrote on Truth Social in a series of posts on the evening of August 17, just hours before the scheduled meeting at the White House.
Trump, who has attempted to broker an end to the conflict, also reiterated his belief that Ukraine must give territory to Russia in any peace deal - an idea repeatedly rejected by Kiev and its European allies.
"Remember how it started. No return of Crimea given by Obama [12 years ago, without a shot being fired] and NO TO UKRAINE'S NATO MEMBERSHIP," he added, referring to his predecessor, Barack Obama, and the fact that Russia illegally invaded and annexed the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Zelensky, who arrived in the US around 10:30 pm, issued a statement saying he was grateful that Trump had invited him and "we all want the same thing to end this war quickly."
Zelensky referred to Ukraine's "forced" loss of Crimea, but did not directly address Trump's statements. "I hope that our joint power with America, with our European friends, will force Russia towards a real peace."
Earlier, Zelensky said one of the main items on his agenda is securing strong security guarantees from the American leader against further Russian aggression, something that American officials signaled was a real possibility after having downplayed the potential of such a request for months.
Steve Witkoff, the US envoy widely seen as one of the main US negotiators with Moscow, suggested that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to provide "strong security guarantees" for Ukraine.
"We were able to win this concession [from Putin]: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO," Witkoff told CNN's "State of the Union" program.
"It was the first time I heard the Russians agree on this," Witkoff added.
Zelensky - who has long expressed a desire to join NATO or receive security guarantees from Washington and Europe's so-called 'Coalition of the Willing' - said he would seek more details on the issue at the meeting, which is scheduled to start at 1:15 pm local time in Washington.
"There are no details on how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role, and what the EU can do - and that is our main task: We need security to work in practice like NATO's Article 5," he declared, referring to the alliance's clause that stipulates that an attack on one member state is considered an attack on all.
"It is a historic decision that the US is ready to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine," Zelensky said later on Telegram.
US officials have long rejected the idea of Kiev joining NATO and have been reluctant in the past to talk about direct security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump administration officials have said that any guarantees would come outside of NATO.
The White House meeting comes after Trump's summit with Putin in Alaska, which appeared to yield little or no results but alarmed Kiev and its allies over what critics saw as Trump's return to the Kremlin's position on ending the conflict, which escalated into full-scale war after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
More alarming for Ukraine and its supporters have been Trump's statements that Kiev would have to give territory to Russia in a "territorial swap."
Also worrying were Trump's statements that an immediate ceasefire - long sought by Washington, Kiev and European leaders - is no longer the desired step.
Instead, Trump – seemingly in line with Putin's wishes – said the sides should negotiate a full peace deal, which would likely take much longer and, critics say, would give Russia time to score more battlefield victories against outnumbered and poorly armed Ukrainian soldiers.
European leaders, many of whom held a video conference on August 17 to discuss the war in Ukraine, said they would travel to Washington to support Zelensky during his meeting with Trump, although it was not immediately clear which meetings they would attend.
"I will join President Trump and other European leaders at the White House tomorrow," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Following the European Union chief's statement, a number of European leaders, along with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, also announced that they would travel to Washington.
French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb are expected to attend the meetings.
The Eurasia Group said in a statement that "European leaders have three main goals... to clarify the details of the possibility of US security guarantees for Ukraine; to work on preparations for a possible trilateral meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump; and to oppose the idea of a territorial swap."
While diplomatic efforts have intensified, the war and killings in Ukraine continue.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram that three people were killed overnight and 17 others were injured in a Russian-made ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian city, which is located near the Russian border. Other details about the attack have not yet been released./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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