The visit on Monday comes after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, and Vladimir Zelensky participate in a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. ©  AP Photo

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and several Western European leaders are due in Washington on Monday for talks with US President Donald Trump.

The visit comes after Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, in their first face-to-face talks since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Both leaders voiced cautious optimism that the discussions could help move towards a resolution of the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev.

Zelensky announced in a post on X on Saturday that he would be traveling to the US capital on Monday, with Trump confirming the meeting on his Truth Social platform later in the day.

On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a social media post that she and several Western European leaders would be joining Zelensky at his request to meet with Trump.

Meanwhile, several US officials have claimed that considerable progress has been made in reaching a compromise peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

17 August 2025

20:53 GMT

The US is hoping for a trilateral meeting involving Trump, Putin, and Zelensky later this week, an unnamed White House official has told the Washington Post. However, the official noted that Monday’s discussions may not immediately lead to such a meeting.

19:54 GMT

In a statement, nations belonging to the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ have again said they are ready to deploy troops to Ukraine once hostilities cease. 

“[The leaders] re-emphasised the readiness to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, and to help secure Ukraine’s skies and seas and regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer co-chaired a virtual meeting of the group’s leaders with Zelensky. 

Over 30 countries, including EU members and NATO allies, are part of the group led by France and the UK.

18:55 GMT

The state secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, Aleksandr Volfovich, believes it unlikely that the West wants to totally halt or even temporarily pause the fighting in the Ukraine conflict.

“We can see how painfully, unfortunately, the Western leadership – Western politicians above all – react to issues related to stopping or suspending hostilities… They are not interested in this,” Volfovich told STV television.

18:15 GMT

Kiev will try to come up with a cunning ploy for discussing the territorial issue, Pavel Feldman, a professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations told RT. He thinks that Zelensky faces a difficult dilemma after the summit in Alaska. If he rejects the peace initiative involving concessions, this will disappoint Trump and threaten to end aid.

“But if Zelensky publicly declares readiness to discuss the territorial issue, he will be immediately swept away by local nationalists, who are still obsessed with the idea of returning Ukraine to its 1991 borders,” Feldman said.

Most likely, Zelensky will demand abstract trilateral negotiations, but Russia is unlikely to agree to this, he added.

18:15 GMT

Speaking after a meeting of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to Washington with Zelensky and other European leaders to present what he called a united front for “a robust, lasting peace.”

Macron stressed that “no discussion on Ukraine can take place without Ukrainians,” and tied any territorial questions to binding security guarantees. He insisted that Ukraine’s own army must remain “the first pillar” of its defense, reinforced by allied reassurance forces, with several states ready to contribute training, logistics, and a non-frontline presence. He added that France and Europe would press the US to clarify “how far and to what point” it is prepared to join these guarantees, claiming that European security depends on firmness against Russia.

17:22 GMT

Former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman has told RT that the recent US-Russia talks made important progress toward ending the conflict in Ukraine, contrasting Trump’s approach with that of his predecessor. He said that during four years in office, “the Biden administration… never once really listened to Russia on the issues that President Putin has outlined,” whereas Trump “did listen” and “evidently took much of what President Putin said aboard.” 

Freeman emphasized, however, that “a ceasefire is not a peace,” calling it only “a halt in the fighting, which could be resumed at any time.” He argued that Russia’s call for an end to the war is “entirely reasonable” and suggested Washington is beginning to conclude that “this war cannot be won by Ukraine, by NATO.” Instead, he urged that the conflict be used to “create a new security architecture in Europe which includes Ukraine,” pointing to the 1955 Austrian State Treaty as a model. 

For Ukraine, Freeman said, the solution lies in adopting “a neutral status, with appropriate security guarantees from all who might disturb it, including Russia, and respect for the minorities within it, rather than attempts at forced assimilation, which is what started the civil war …in 2014.”

© RT

 

16:36 GMT

Kirill Dmitriev, President Putin’s envoy, has posted on his X account that European and British “warmongers and saboteurs” are in a state of panic, warning they should not stand in the way of peace. He replied to Trump’s Truth Social post which hailed “big progress on Russia".

16:19 GMT

US special envoy Steve Witkoff has said that Presidents Trump and Putin reached a breakthrough on security guarantees for Ukraine during their meeting on Friday. The leaders agreed to what he called “robust” and “game-changing” guarantees. 

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Witkoff revealed that Russia accepted language effectively offering Ukraine protections similar to NATO’s Article Five, which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.

Witkoff added that the proposal also includes legal commitments by Russia not to pursue territorial expansion once a peace agreement is finalized. That would mean enshrined guarantees against future aggression toward Ukraine or other European countries. 

He argued the framework bypasses Ukraine’s long-stalled NATO bid while still delivering the core protection Kiev has sought for years: US-backed collective defense.

 

 

16:01 GMT

Trump has shared a post on his Truth Social account saying that “Ukraine must be willing to lose some territory to Russia otherwise the longer the war goes on they will keep losing even more land!!”

 

 

15:38 GMT

Key statements from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in interviews with CBS and Fox news:

1) On peace deal: “The only way to end this war is to get Russia to agree to a peace deal.”

2) On sanctions: “More sanctions on Russia would mean talks are over. They may make people feel good for a couple hours… But there’s no one else in the world that can talk to Putin apart from Trump.”

3) On Donbass claims: “I don’t know who told you [Trump supports Russia taking Donbass], but they don’t know what they’re talking about… In terms of territories, these are things Zelensky will have to decide on.”

4) On progress: “We’re not on the precipice of a peace agreement… There are still big areas of disagreement. But I do think progress was made.”

5) On negotiations: “The only way to reach a deal is for each side to get something and each side to give something. Very difficult. If it was easy, this wouldn’t have been going on for 3.5 years.”

6) On US role: “This is not our war. The US is not in a war. Ukraine is in a war… Trump is the only leader in the world who can bring Putin to the table.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. ©  Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

 

More