Ukraine-Russia war latest: European leaders to back Zelensky today as Trump says Kyiv can end war ‘immediately’

It is now conceivable, just, that Trump is prepared to consider security guarantees for Ukraine that reflect Nato’s Article 5, which could mean that if Ukraine signed up to a peace deal then its long-term future sovereignty and security would be protected, by force of arms, by allies including the US.

Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, spoke with Trump and went public with the idea (that had been hers in the first place) suggesting that the US president had bought into the concept.

The future of Ukraine’s industrial heartland in the east of the country is uncertain, after Vladimir Putin reportedly demanded it be handed to Russia during his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday.

Despite launching an illegal invasion, Vladimir Putin is understood to have demanded that Kyiv surrender the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk provinces as a condition for ending the war.

Vladimir Putin agreed to allow the US and its European allies to offer Ukraine security guarantees at his meeting with Donald Trump, US envoy Steve Witkoff said.

“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,” Witkoff told CNN.

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

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

Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday. Sir Keir Starmer will join Zelensky and other European leaders will be attending the talks.

At the Alaska summit on Friday, Putin reportedly insisted Ukraine must surrender Donetsk and Luhansk in full and abandon its Nato aspirations. He offered to freeze the front lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, sources close to the meeting told The Independent.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he has reached Washington just few minutes back and said that he hopes Ukraine’s “shared strength” with the US and European counterparts will compel Russia to peace.

“I have already arrived in Washington, tomorrow I am meeting with President Trump. Tomorrow we are also speaking with European leaders. I am grateful to @POTUS for the invitation,” he said in a pozt on X.

He added: “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably. And peace must be lasting. Not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East – part of Donbas – and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack.”

“I am confident that we will defend Ukraine, effectively guarantee security, and that our people will always be grateful to President Trump, everyone in America, and every partner and ally for their support and invaluable assistance. Russia must end this war, which it itself started,” he said.

European leaders will join Volodymyr Zelensky to meet Donald Trump in Washington, seeking to shore up Zelensky’s position as the US president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal to end Europe’s deadliest war in 80 years.

Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland are rallying around the Ukrainian president after his exclusion from Trump’s summit on Friday with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and French president Emmanuel Macron, British prime minister Keir Starmer, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian premier Giorgia Meloni and Finnish president Alexander Stubb also said they’ll will take part in Monday’s talks, as will secretary-general of the Nato military alliance, Mark Rutte.

Their pledge to be at Zelensky’s side at the White House today is an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated Zelensky in a heated Oval Office encounter.

Trump is leaning on Zelensky to strike an agreement after he met Russian leader Putin in Alaska and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first.