Ukraine’s allies were meeting yesterday to discuss the outcome of fast-moving talks to end the war with Russia, after indications that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy could sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a peace summit.
Hopes of a breakthrough arose when Zelenskiy and European leaders met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, who said he had also spoken by telephone with his Russian counterpart.
The Ukraine war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, has ground to a virtual stalemate despite a few Russian advances, defying Trump’s push to end it.
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Photo: Bloomberg
A face-to-face meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin would be their first since Russia’s brutal invasion nearly three-and-a-half-years ago.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in Washington for the talks on the key issue of long-term security guarantees for Ukraine, said France and Britain would hold a meeting yesterday with about 30 of Kyiv’s allies.
The virtual meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing” would “keep them up to date on what was decided,” Macron told French news channel LCI. “Right after that, we’ll start concrete work with the Americans.”
Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are cohosting the meeting, which would “discuss next steps” for Ukraine, a British government spokesperson said, as Kyiv seeks backing from allies to enforce any peace deal.
Macron suggested Geneva, Switzerland, could host peace talks, but said it was “up to Ukraine” to decide whether to make concessions on territory, including parts of the eastern Donbas region still under its control.
“Putin has rarely honored his commitments,” he said, calling the Russian leader a “predator, an ogre at our gates” — comments that underscored European wariness.
Putin “has constantly been a force for destabilization. He has sought to redraw borders to increase his power,” Macron said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was part of the European delegation, said Putin had agreed to a bilateral meeting within the next two weeks.
Zelenskiy said he was “ready” to meet his bitter foe Putin, while in Moscow, a Kremlin aide said that Putin was open to the “idea” of direct talks with Ukraine.
Zelenskiy met one-on-one in the Oval Office with Trump in their first encounter there since their acrimonious blow-up in February.
The Ukrainian president said the meeting was their “best” yet, with little of the tension that erupted when Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance berated him in front of TV cameras for not being “grateful” for US support.
Trump said he had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, adding that Putin had agreed to them, despite ruling out Kyiv’s long-held wish of joining NATO.
The guarantees “would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” he said.
The Financial Times, citing a document seen by the newspaper, said Ukraine had undertaken to buy US$100 billion of US weapons financed by Europe in return for US guarantees for its security.
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