A meeting with US envoy Keith Kellogg, then a briefing with European leaders before meeting Donald Trump at the White House—the "lion's den," as the Financial Times put it. It's a long day in Washington for Volodymyr Zelensky, with a flurry of meetings centering around his face-to-face meeting with the American president in the Oval Office. Accompanying the Ukrainian president are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
The program of the day
The Ukrainian president met with European leaders arriving in Washington at the embassy in Kiev to finalize the final details before their face-to-face meeting with Trump. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also attended the pre-summit meeting. Trump received Zelensky in the Oval Office immediately after lunch (around 7:15 p.m. Italian time): it was the first meeting between the two leaders since their clash, also in the Oval Office, last February. Just under two hours later (around 9 p.m. Italian time), Trump formally welcomed the European leaders and, after a group photo, the long-awaited multilateral meeting with Zelensky began.
LIVE:
Trump: "I know exactly what I'm doing."
"I know exactly what I'm doing" with Russia and Ukraine: "I'm here to end" the war. Donald Trump stated this on his Social Truth. "I've resolved six wars in six months, one of which was a potential nuclear disaster, yet I have to read and listen to the Wall Street Journal and so many others tell me everything I'm doing wrong in the Russia-Ukraine mess. This is Biden's war, and it would never have happened if I were president. I know exactly what I'm doing, and I don't need advice from people who have worked on these conflicts for years and failed to resolve them," Trump said.
Starmer: "The war in Ukraine must end, but a just peace is needed."
