Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, joined by a group of top European leaders, as diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine intensify amid fresh Russian attacks.The meeting, scheduled for 1:15 p.m. ET, will also include Vice President JD Vance, according to a source familiar with the talks.Alongside Zelenskyy, several senior European leaders have arrived in Washington: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Their joint appearance with Zelenskyy signals a coordinated push to keep Europe’s support for Kyiv central to any peace framework. .The Washington summit follows Trump’s high-profile meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. That session, to which Zelenskyy was not invited, was described by Trump as “productive,” though no ceasefire or concrete progress was announced. The optics of the meeting drew criticism in Kyiv, where Zelenskyy argued Russia should not be “rewarded” for its invasion.Even as leaders gather in Washington, Russia has continued heavy strikes on Ukraine. Zelenskyy reported that seven people were killed in drone attacks on Kharkiv and three more in a missile strike on Zaporizhzhia. He condemned the assaults as an attempt to “humiliate diplomatic efforts.”Russian state media also circulated footage of what it claimed was a U.S. personnel carrier captured from Ukrainian forces, now flying both Russian and U.S. flags. The claim could not be independently verified. .Zelenskyy has argued that only a strong, united front can pressure Moscow into ending its invasion. “Russia can only be forced into peace through strength, and President Trump has that strength,” he wrote on social media after an earlier meeting with Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine.Trump’s advisers have said that compromises will be necessary on both sides to end the war. But the president himself has placed the burden on Kyiv, suggesting Ukraine should give up hopes of regaining Crimea — annexed by Russia in 2014 — or of joining the NATO military alliance.The back-to-back summits underscore the delicate balancing act facing Ukraine and its allies. Trump has presented himself as uniquely positioned to broker a deal with Moscow, while Zelenskyy and European leaders stress that any resolution must not compromise Ukrainian sovereignty.“The one word Moscow must hear is: Stop,” Zelenskyy wrote in a Facebook post ahead of the White House meeting.
