Europe sends big hitters to back up Zelensky in Trump meeting

“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. And I hope that our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace.”

Trump and Zelensky clashed in the White House in February, when the American president complained that the Ukrainian leader would not accept a peace deal with Putin, and this raised fears in Europe of another confrontation on Monday.

With Trump airing the idea that Ukraine should give up territory, the European leaders increased their support for Zelensky over the weekend by deciding to send at least seven of their number to join him at the White House.

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The group comprises French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

The group includes leaders with good personal relationships with Trump – especially Meloni, Rutte, Starmer and Stubb – and who could help persuade him to accept the European arguments against Putin.

Starmer and Macron convened another meeting of their “Coalition of the Willing” over the weekend to canvass ways for member nations to secure Ukrainian borders in any peace deal, with the UK offering “boots on the ground” and aircraft patrols.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined the online meeting overnight, given his stated position that he would consider options about Australian support, but he did not outline any specific pledges.

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Earlier Sunday, Trump complained that he was not being given enough credit for progress on a peace deal after his summit with Putin in Alaska last week.

“If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal,” he posted on Truth Social.

“That’s why they are the FAKE NEWS! Also, they should talk about the 6 WARS, etc., I JUST STOPPED!!! MAGA”

White House officials argue that Trump has negotiated peace deals between Thailand and Cambodia, Pakistan and India, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia, Israel and Iran, and Azerbaijan and Armenia. Trump did not name the six wars he was referring to.

In a signal of his attitude to the Ukraine peace talks, he also forwarded a post on Truth Social from a private citizen that said: “Ukraine must be willing to lose some territory to Russia otherwise the longer the war goes on they will keep losing even more land!!”

Zelensky joined von der Leyen in Brussels on Sunday – early on Monday, AEST – to demonstrate unity before flying to the US capital.

“Putin does not want to stop the killings. But he must do it,” Zelensky said.

“We need real negotiations, which means they can start where the front line is now. The contact line is the best line for talking.”

Russia has seized most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine and has large parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, as well as the Crimea.

Putin is seeking a peace agreement that secures Russian control of this territory and places curbs on the Ukrainian military as well as blocking Ukraine from joining NATO.

In an important message about the US approach to a peace deal, Trump’s top officials told American television networks that the US would offer security guarantees to Ukraine so it was protected in any agreement with Russia.

Macron warned on the weekend that Putin had broken peace agreements in the past, highlighting European concerns that a security guarantee from Trump would be too weak to prevent Russia sparking future conflicts with its neighbours.

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Trump envoy Steve Witkoff framed this as a concession extracted from Putin and said the Russian leader accepted that the US would offer security guarantees to Ukraine that are similar to those offered to NATO members under Article 5 of the NATO treaty.

“We were able to win the following concession, that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection,” he told CNN on Sunday in the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke of security guarantees in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, but he was challenged on this when the interviewer played remarks from Rubio when he was a senator in 2022 and he said Putin could not be trusted.

“He’s never kept a deal they’ve ever signed, and he’s lied all – he lies all the time,” Rubio said in March 2022, soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“And I don’t know why, but he plays us like a violin in the West, because the West wants to believe that you can cut a deal with everybody. You can’t cut a deal with guys like this. He’s a professional, experienced liar.”

Asked about that remark, Rubio said it explained why the US was now considering security guarantees.

“That’s why the deal has to have enforceable mechanisms in it. That’s why the deal has to have things like security guarantees,” he said.

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