From left to right, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at at the White House on Monday.Win McNamee/Getty Images
For the first time, seven of Europe’s most senior leaders travelled to Washington, with barely 48 hours notice, to discuss an international crisis – the war in Ukraine. It was, as U.S. President Donald Trump said, an unprecedented event at the White House, a building which has “seen a lot over the years.”
And in all the meetings in the White House’s 225-year history, few can have seen such shared lavish praise and mutual admiration.
In opening remarks before the cameras, Mr. Trump said “wonderful things took place” in his talks with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He described Mark Rutte, the NATO Secretary-General who recently referred to Mr. Trump as “daddy,” as a “great gentleman doing a fantastic job.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was a “great leader and an inspiration.” Mr. Trump, in turn, was praised by his guests for leading efforts to make peace.
It was a conscious effort to avoid the diplomatic fiasco of Mr. Zelensky’s previous visit to the White House. Too much was at stake: their reputations as peacemakers, the future of Ukraine and the security of Europe.
For Mr. Zelensky and the European delegation, their main tasks were to provide firm support for their Ukrainian ally and to prise Mr. Trump from the diplomatic embrace of Russian Vladimir Putin.
Since his back-slapping, two-man summit with the Russian leader in Alaska on Friday, the U.S. President had seemingly been charmed into adopting all the Russian’s key talking points.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he'd back European security guarantees for Ukraine, though he stopped short of committing U.S. troops to the effort during talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
The Associated Press
Mr. Trump said over the weekend that there was no need for a ceasefire in Ukraine before peace talks began, which alarmed Ukraine’s allies as it would allow Russia to pursue more military gains before reaching a peace agreement. He added that Ukraine should abandon hopes of regaining Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014, and consider giving up some or all the territory lost since Moscow’s full invasion in 2022.
Mr. Trump raised the pressure on Mr. Zelensky, saying he could end the war “almost immediately” if he chose to, without placing a similar onus on the Russian aggressor.
European leaders had clearly rehearsed their lines and decided that the best approach to Mr. Trump was flattery, according to Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Europe think tank.
“The European strategy seems to make President Trump an indispensable part of the peace deal. That means telling him he’s opened up a path to peace and therefore needs to stick with it and make sure the U.S. is involved,” he said.
“It’s a war of influence over Trump between the Europeans and Putin. There are two wars going on – the one in Ukraine and the one to bend Trump to their way of thinking.”
Seated around a large wooden table in the White House East Room, the Europeans took turns to emphasize that Mr. Trump’s personal presence was essential at the next step toward peace, a meeting between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin.
Trump says he’s making plans for direct meeting between Putin and Zelensky
Their approach worked to an extent. Mr. Trump modified his ceasefire line saying he would “ideally” like a ceasefire first, if Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin could “work it out.”
On the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal, he said the U.S. would be involved, with Europe “the first line of defence.”
It fell short of the potential “Article 5 style” commitment to defend Ukraine made by his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, comparable to NATO’s mutual defence pledge but was, however, at least encouraging to Ukrainians, said Jana Kobzova, European security program co-director at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“This event was about keeping the U.S. on board and engaged and not letting it drift into the Russian idea of how this conflict should end,” she said.
The details of security guarantees – who provides the funds, the peacekeeping troops, the logistics – are key questions not only for Ukraine but for Europe.
“Their leaders understand that if you let Putin off the hook on Ukraine then he will strike anywhere,” she said. “I am not sure this will end in success but at least we can say that the U.S. has partly aligned with where Ukraine and the rest of Europe is.”
After the meeting with Mr. Trump, several leaders gave individual news briefings to U.S. media to press home a unified message to American audiences. Outside the French ambassador’s residence, President Emmanuel Macron emphasized “our desire to help” Ukraine, Finland’s President gave an interview on CNN, calling the talks “partially successful” while Mr. Rutte appeared on MAGA’s favourite broadcaster, Fox News.
Ms. Kobzova compared the summit to the concept of “good enough parenting,” when a child’s basic needs are met without stressing about perfection.
“It was a good enough meeting.”
Special to The Globe and Mail