European leaders meet Zelensky amid Trump pressure on plan to halt war

London, UK: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with top European leaders in London yesterday amid continuing public pressure from President Do...

London, UK: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with top European leaders in London yesterday amid continuing public pressure from President Donald Trump that he accept a plan to halt Russia’s war in Ukraine on terms largely favorable to Moscow.

Trump over the weekend once again cast Kyiv as the obstacle to the American-championed proposal, accusing Zelensky of slow-walking the plan and not bothering to read it, even as Moscow has shown little, if any, willingness to compromise on its maximalist demands.

Trump’s continuing pressure, including his stern tone toward Ukraine and apparent openness to granting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s territorial claims, has unnerved European capitals, heightening fears that Kyiv’s negotiating leverage is evaporating as Putin’s forces advance on the battlefield and Zelensky’s government remains consumed by a swirling corruption scandal.

Zelensky’s immediate priority in London is to meet with senior Ukrainian officials, including Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, who held detailed consultations in Miami with Trump’s envoys - developer Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, following their meeting with Putin in Moscow last week.

Zelensky said that some of the new information emerging in those talks required face-to-face consultation with his team. Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of not keeping up.