Saul Loeb / AFP
Volodymy Zelensky and Donald Trump during their last meeting at the White House in February 2025.
International – Alignment with the claims of Vladimir Putin? Donald Trump set the tone before his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders this Monday, August 18 in Washington. “No question [pour l’Ukraine] to recover the Crimea “ et « No question for Ukraine to enter NATO ”wrote the American president on his Truth Social network on Sunday, August 17 in the evening.
A clear attempt to put pressure on his Ukrainian counterpart to give up some of his requirements. For the tenant of the White House, “The Ukrainian President Zelensky can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants, or he can continue to fight.”
“We all have the deep desire to end this war quickly and reliably. And peace must be sustainable ”for his part wrote Volodymyr Zelensky on X when he arrived in Washington.
Several European leaders
Donald Trump also welcomed that there is “ never had so many European leaders at the same time ” At the White House this Monday, August 18. In addition to Volodymyr Zelensky, the French president Emmanuel Macron, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Finnish president Alexander Stubb, the chief of NATO Mark Rutte, and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen make the trip to Washington.
The Ukrainian leader, who was delighted with this “ unit ” European, underlined Sunday from Brussels that he did not know “ not exactly ” What Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke in Alaska on August 15 and that he was impatient to have more details.
He will first head on-one with Donald Trump, said a source close to the German government. The various European leaders will then join them. There will be a work lunch, then a discussion of several hours in a widely wide circle.
Security guarantees
In addition to the question of the Crimea mentioned explicitly on Sunday by Donald Trump, an informed source of telephone exchanges on Saturday between the American president and European leaders told AFP that President Donald Trump supported a proposal from Moscow according to which kyiv would all the regions of Donetsk and Lougansk, and the front would be frozen in those of Kherson and Zaporijia. Like Zelensky himself, Europeans have always made the territorial unity of Ukraine a central claim.
The question of security guarantees offered in kyiv in exchange for a compromise should occupy a central place during Monday discussions. Coming back from Alaska, Donald Trump spoke of the track of a collective security clause inspired by article 5 of NATO, outside the framework of the Atlantic Alliance, considered by Moscow as an existential threat.
According to Emmanuel Macron, Europeans will ask Donald Trump “ to what extent ” It will join the security guarantees.