Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Monday that it was up to Russia to end its invasion, just hours before high-stakes talks in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been pressing Kyiv to abandon its NATO ambitions and concede Crimea.
The meeting comes on the heels of Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, a gathering that failed to deliver a ceasefire but shifted Trump’s focus from a temporary truce to what he calls a “final peace deal.”
On Sunday night, Trump claimed Zelensky could end the war “almost immediately, if he wants to,” while reiterating on Truth Social that Ukraine would not be allowed into NATO and that Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014 was off the table.
“Remember how it started,” Trump wrote. “No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!”
Landing in Washington, Zelensky struck a defiant tone. “Russia must end this war, which it itself started,” he said. “Ukrainians are fighting for their land and independence, and together with America and our European partners, we will force Russia into a real peace.”
Zelensky will first hold one-on-one talks with Trump, before being joined by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Finland, along with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, the White House confirmed.
China, meanwhile, urged “all parties” to agree to peace “as soon as possible.”
The summit also marks Zelensky’s first visit to Washington since a fiery February clash with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, when they accused him of being “ungrateful.”
– War Rages On –
Even as diplomacy looms, fighting on the ground has intensified. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched at least 140 drones and four ballistic missiles overnight, while a drone strike on a residential building in Kharkiv killed at least seven people.
Moscow-installed authorities reported that Ukrainian shelling in occupied Kherson and Donetsk killed two civilians.
– Security Guarantees in Focus –
Since his Oval Office confrontation with Zelensky, Trump has grown more openly critical of Putin, expressing frustration at Moscow’s repeated stalling in peace negotiations. But Washington has yet to impose tougher sanctions, and Putin’s lavish welcome in Alaska his first trip to the West since launching the invasion in 2022, was widely viewed as a diplomatic win for Russia.
Speaking in Brussels on the eve of the summit, Zelensky said he was eager to learn the details of the Trump-Putin talks in Alaska, which could shape the future of the war and Ukraine’s sovereignty.
