Are European leaders travelling to the White House to prevent Trump from bullying Zelenskyy?

In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House only to be berated by his American hosts after which he was abruptly asked to leave the White House.

The meeting, six months ago, has gone down in history as, perhaps, one of the most disgraceful episodes in modern-day diplomacy — a national leader was humiliated in front of the cameras in a grilling that the US president said afterwards would make good television.

Now, Zelenskyy is heading back to the White House today (August 18). However, he won’t be alone, as an array of European prime ministers and presidents are joining him to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House to make sure that Ukraine’s security interests are maintained after Trump-Putin’s Alaska summit.

Who’s going to accompany Zelenskyy? What’s at stake? We have the answers for you.

Why is Zelenskyy heading to Washington today?

The meeting at the White House between Trump and Zelenskyy comes after the US president’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15. While the two leaders billed that meeting as historic, it failed to come up with any immediate solution to the war, which has now dragged on for three-and-a-half years.

Zelenskyy first headed to Brussels over the weekend to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a top EU leader, and hold a video call with the other leaders to prepare for the meeting with Trump at the White House.

“It’s very important that you are with us and that we speak to America together,” Zelenskyy said in Brussels, standing alongside von der Leyen. “It’s crucial that Europe is as united now as it was at the very beginning—as it was in 2022,” when Russia staged its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. “This unity really helps encourage real peace and it must stay strong.”

Who’s going with Zelenskyy to Washington?

Following his meeting in Brussels, Zelenskyy will now head to Washington, DC. However, he won’t be alone.

Accompanying the Ukrainian leader will be UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who many consider to be the ‘Trump whisperer’. There’s also Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz and France’s Emmanuel Macron as well as Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, will be a reminder of Europe’s combined importance as an economic juggernaut, as The Guardian reported.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will also attend the meeting as will Finland’s President Alexander Stubb. Nato’s Secretary General Mark Rutte will also be accompanying Zelenskyy to the Oval Office today.

Retired French General Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France’s military mission at the United Nations, told Sky News that the reason the European leaders were travelling with Zelenskyy is because they are “very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Zelenskyy to the hilt.”

“It’s a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump,” he added.

What will all the leaders discuss at the White House today?

The European leaders accompanying Zelenskyy to the White House today want to ensure that US President Trump has not pivoted too close to the Russian side, and does not try to strong-arm Zelenskyy into a deal.

Even European diplomats, who chose to remain anonymous, told media outlets that the European leaders want to avoid a scene like the one that took place in February when Zelenskyy met with Trump in front of television cameras at the White House.

At that meeting, Trump rebuked the Ukrainian president, saying “you don’t have the cards” in the war — essentially telling Ukraine to bend to Russia’s demands. The US president did so again on Friday night, after Putin flew back to Russia, telling a Fox News interviewer that Ukraine was going to have to realise that Russia was a more “powerful” country, and that power meant Zelenskyy was going to have to make concessions.

Even before Zelenskyy and his European allies made their way to the American capital, Trump indicated that the Ukrainian leader must agree to some of Russia’s conditions for the war in Ukraine to end.

“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote on social media. “Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and no going into Nato by Ukraine. Some things never change!!!”

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also rejected the notion that the Europeans were coming to protect Zelenskyy from a repeat of the February shouting match. “They’re not coming here to keep Zelenskyy from getting bullied,” Rubio told CBS. “They are coming here tomorrow because we’ve been working with the Europeans,” he said, listing the many meetings the United States had engaged in before and after the Putin visit. “We invited them to come.”

It is expected that the leaders will also sit down today to discuss territorial questions, including Russia’s demand for Ukraine to cede Donetsk and Luhansk. They are also expected to address security guarantees for Ukraine, which could be backed by US air power.

The role of Nato and European allies in enforcing a settlement is likely to be discussed, alongside sanction pressures on Russia. The European leaders also want that Ukraine is at the table for all negotiations.

In fact, on the issue of land and territory, EU’s Ursula von der Leyen even said on Sunday, “With regards to any territorial questions in Ukraine, our position is clear: international borders cannot be changed by force.

“These are decisions to be made by Ukraine and Ukraine alone, and these decisions cannot be taken without Ukraine at the table.”

There also might be discussions on setting up a trilateral between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy in the near future.

What does Russia want?

At the Alaska summit, Putin reportedly stated that Ukraine must surrender Donetsk and Luhansk in full, abandon its Nato aspirations and declare neutrality. He offered to freeze the front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

However, Zelenskyy has rejected any idea of handing over territory to Russia, saying that a ceasefire should be first instituted.

According to Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Putin agreed to allow the US and the European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee. “We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato,” he was quoted as telling CNN.

He added that it “was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that” and called them “game-changing.”

For the unaware, Article 5 of Nato states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all members.

What happens today is left to be seen, but as Kim Darroch, who was the UK ambassador to Washington in Trump’s first term, told The Guardian: “History will be kind to him (Trump) if he delivers a fair peace in Ukraine; less so if he presses for a capitulation.”

With inputs from agencies

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