Trump-Zelenskyy talks: EU leaders head to US as Ukraine rejects Russia’s ‘security guarantees’

Several European leaders announced on Sunday that they would join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his trip to Washington, DC, to meet US President Donald Trump on Monday. The meeting is being held to discuss the takeaways from the Alaska Summit, where Trump held three-hour-long talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about the war in Ukraine.

The talks between Trump and Putin on Friday failed to yield any breakthrough on a ceasefire, with both leaders agreeing to “ robust security guarantees” to Ukraine. While European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed the news about the guarantees, speaking alongside her, Zelenskyy rejected the idea of Russia giving security guarantees to any nations.

“What President Trump said about security guarantees is much more important to me than Putin’s thoughts, because Putin will not give any security guarantees,” he said. However, in a separate post, the Ukrainian president said that the US offer regarding security guarantees was “historic”.

Moscow vs Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron, who will join Zelenskyy in the Washington, DC, meeting, said that European leaders would ask Washington “to what extent” they were ready to contribute to the security guarantees offered to Ukraine in any peace agreement.

While responding to Russia’s position on the matter, the French president said: “There is only one state proposing a peace that would be a capitulation: Russia.” The remarks from Macron attracted wrath from Russia, with Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling the proclamation an “abject lie” on Sunday.

“Moscow had been proposing a peaceful resolution of the conflict for seven years under the terms of the Minsk Accords,” she said. Macron, she added, was trying to convince Ukraine that it could win on the battlefield even when he knew that that was “impossible”.

Amidst all this, US President Donald Trump pivoted after the Alaska meeting, saying that he was now seeking a peace deal, rather than a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. “ BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote on TruthSocial on Sunday, without elaborating much on it.

Meanwhile, after the Alaska talks, Zelenskyy maintained that he saw “no sign” the Kremlin leader was prepared to meet him and Trump for a three-way summit, as had been floated by the American leader. The European leaders who will join Zelenskyy in Washington are: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

Also heading to the US will be Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who get on well with Trump. On Sunday, all the European leaders held a video meeting to prepare their joint positions on the matter.