European allies will travel to the US with the Ukrainian president to strengthen his position
European allies decided not to leave the President of Ukraine alone with Donald Trump during his next visit to Washington. By information edition of Politico, the heads of several countries and senior NATO officials are expected to arrive with Volodymyr Zelensky to give him additional weight in the negotiations and prevent possible conflicts in the White House.
European diplomats explain: it is an attempt to prevent a repetition of a situation that could look like a “trap” for Zelensky. In particular, the option of the participation of the President of Finland Alexander Stubb, who has good personal contacts with Trump, is being considered. It could become a “buffer” in the negotiations, help avoid escalation and promote the idea of a more active European presence in all future agreements.
It is also possible that the new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will arrive in the US capital, who, according to sources, managed to build a trustful communication channel with the owner of the White House.
As Politico points out, in Brussels and Kyiv, the summit scheduled for Monday in Washington is considered a decisive moment. The main task of the allies is to prevent Trump from agreeing to scenarios that involve concessions to Moscow, including the idea of transferring to Russia territories that are currently only partially under its control.
Anxiety in Europe was heightened by Trump’s recent meeting with Putin in Alaska. Observers note that the American president has shown willingness to accept some of the Kremlin’s arguments, and this raises doubts about his future decisions. Camille Gran from the European Council on International Relations emphasized that although the Alaskan summit was not a disaster, Europeans are seriously worried about the direction in which contacts between Washington and Moscow are moving.
Relief was caused only by the fact that Trump refrained from concrete agreements with Putin. At the same time, the EU expressed disappointment at the removal from the agenda of the issue of additional tough sanctions mechanisms against countries that continue to buy Russian oil.
It will be recalled that Trump invited European leaders to take part in the meeting with Zelensky, which will be held at the White House. He intends to present his own settlement plan for discussion, which provides for territorial concessions to Ukraine.
