WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said reclaiming Crimea or entering NATO were off the table for Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington for talks aimed at ending the war with Russia.
Zelensky, who has repeatedly rejected territorial concessions, was set to meet Trump in Washington on Monday (local time), accompanied by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and other leaders.
The meeting comes on the heels of a summit between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska on last Friday, which failed to yield a ceasefire breakthrough but produced promises from both leaders to provide “robust security guarantees” to Ukraine.
Zelensky was not invited to the Alaska meeting, after which Trump pivoted to the long-held Russian position that a ceasefire was not needed before a final peace deal.
“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump posted on his social media platform. “Remember how it started. 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!!!”
Trump and Zelensky are expected to meet one-on-one before being joined by a cohort of European leaders on Monday (local time), according to the White House schedule.
Along with von der Leyen, NATO chief Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Finland, France, Germany and Italy will be present.
It will be the first time Zelensky visits Washington since a bust-up with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February when the two men berated the Ukrainian leader for being “ungrateful”.
On Sunday night, after arriving in Washington, Zelensky said: “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably.”
Since the Oval Office row in February, Trump has grown more critical of Putin and shown some signs of frustration as Russia repeatedly stalled on peace talks.
But Washington has not placed extra sanctions on Moscow and the lavish welcome offered to Putin in Alaska on his first visit to the West since he invaded Ukraine in 2022 was seen as a diplomatic coup for Russia.
Speaking in Brussels on the eve of his visit to the United States, Zelensky said he was keen to hear more about what Putin and Trump discussed in Alaska.
He also hailed Washington’s offer of security guarantees to Ukraine as “historic”.
Trump said he spoke to Putin about the possibility of a NATO-style collective defense guarantee for Ukraine.
The promise would be outside of the framework of the Western military alliance that Ukraine wants to join and which is seen as an existential threat by Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron said European leaders would ask Trump “to what extent” Washington is ready to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said Moscow had made “some concessions” regarding five Ukrainian regions that Russia fully or partially controls, and said that “there is an important discussion with regard to Donetsk and what would happen there.
“That discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday,” he said, without giving details. – AFP
