European leaders join Zelensky at the house of the White House with Trump

European leaders said they would join Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at his meeting with Ukrainian President Donald Trump on Monday.

Travels include British Prime Minister Sir Keir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and NATO secretary, Mark Rutte.

This comes after Trump did not conclude an agreement on the end of the war in Ukraine at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

The American president has since declared that he wanted to bypass a ceasefire in Ukraine in favor of a permanent peace agreement.

Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine had been one of Trump’s fundamental requests before meeting Putin, but then posted on social networks that they “do not often keep” and that it would be better “to go directly to a peace agreement”.

European leaders reacted cautious after Trump-Putin’s meeting, seeking not to criticize the change of direction despite their long-term support for a ceasefire.

Putin would have presented Trump an offer of peace that would require a withdrawal from the Donetsk region of Donbas, in exchange for Russia freezing the front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Russia claims donbas as Russian territory, controlling most of Luhansk and around 70% Donetsk. He also illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, eight years before launching his large -scale invasion of Ukraine.

The American partner of the BBC CBS reported, citing diplomatic sources, that European officials were concerned about Trump could try to put pressure on Zelensky to accept the possible terms discussed in Alaska during their meeting on Monday.

The president of Ukraine previously excluded control of the Donbas control – composed of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk – saying that it could be used as a springboard for future Russian attacks.

Von der Leyen, who meets Zelensky in Brussels on Sunday, wrote on X that she would join Zelensky at the White House at the request of the Ukrainian President.

Macron, Rutte, Sir Keir, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni all followed a quick succession.

Downing Street said in a statement that he “follows the Prime Minister congratulating President Trump’s efforts to end the Russian illegal war in Ukraine, reassessing his position that the path to peace can not be decided without President Zelensky”.

The Monday White House meeting will be Zelensky’s first since an acrimonious public exchange in the oval office in February, when Trump told him to be more “grateful” for American support and accused him of “playing with the Second World War” in front of the world’s media.

In unprecedented scenes, Zelensky was invited to leave the White House, but European leaders have since worked to repair the relationship.

The two leaders seemed to be reconciled in April, in what the White House described as a “very productive” meeting of 15 minutes on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis.

Ukraine has also signed a mineral agreement that has given the United States a financial participation in the country, and kyiv clearly indicated that they were ready to pay for American weapons.

But there will be concerns in kyiv and other European capitals after the meeting of Trump-Putin on Friday.

The Russian president, who faces an arrest warrant against the international criminal court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, left his jet and on a red carpet to be warmly received by Trump, who later declared that they had a “fantastic relationship”.

Ukraine’s Ket’s request was a rapid ceasefire, so discussions on a longer-term settlement do not take place on the context of continuous fighting.

Zelensky said after the Alaska summit that “real peace should be made, one that will last, not just another break between the Russian invasions”.

European leaders have managed to maintain good relations with Trump since his return to the White House, Sir Keir establishing a particularly warm relationship with the American president.