Zelenski and European leaders celebrate a “preparatory meeting” before seeing Trump
Before setting foot in the White House, European leaders want the main actor, Volodimir Zelenski, to have everything tied and well tied and that coordination with Europe is total too. As confirmed by the European Commission, whose president, Ursula von der Leyen, is one of the companions of President Ukraine, he has held with his European peers and Zelenski a “preparatory meeting” prior to the key quotes of the day with the US president, Donald Trump.
Brussels has not revealed details of the meeting, barely set without time or place in the official Von der Leyen agenda but, in view of the fact that the White House was expected to begin the series of meetings from the local noon, it had to take place in the American morning hours (Spanish afternoon). The German has moved to Washington along with several European leaders – the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz; The French president, Emmanuel Macron, his final pair, Alexander Stubb, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and his British couple, Keir Starmer, in addition to the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte – to support Zelenski. It is not a free gesture: it is the first visit to the White House of the Ukraine since the disastrous meeting last February, when Zelenski left the oval office after a hard anger with Trump and especially with his vice president, JD Vance, who seriously damaged bilateral relations. Several of the leaders now displaced to Washington, especially Starmer and Macron, had to work hard to restore diplomatic bridges.
The meeting is also produced after the bilateral summit that Trump celebrated with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, last Friday in Alask Ukraine and was received with the maximum honors by a Trump that shortly before threatened to redouble the sanctions against Moscow.
European leaders, ignored once again (such as Zelenski himself) in an appointment in which Europe also plays a good part of their future and security, they want to make sure that, as Macron said on Sunday on the eve of his trip, from now on “there are no discussions about Ukraine without the Ukraine or discussions about the safety of Europeans without them.”
“We are not only accompanying Zelenski. We are going to defend the interests of Europeans (…) Europe does not want to be at the table of great discussions, as a topic of debate. Europe must be on the table to talk about itself and their future,” said the Gallic President.
