Zelenskyy rallies key allies as Ukraine faces Russian and US pressure
Al Jazeera
Ukrainian leader holds urgent talks with ‘coalition of the willing’ as pressure mounts over territorial concessions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is holding urgent talks with leaders and officials from approximately 30 countries backing Kyiv’s efforts to secure more favourable terms in negotiations to end the war with Russia, deep into its fourth year.
Ukraine is facing mounting pressure from Russia on the battlefield in its eastern Donetsk region and on the diplomatic front from the United States.
The meeting on Thursday comes a day after US President Donald Trump held discussions with Zelenskyy, along with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The group of Ukraine’s allies, known as the “coalition of the willing”, is scrambling to help steer peace negotiations as European governments warn their own security is at stake and to dilute Russian maximalist demands that the US has been leaning towards.
Trump has been pressing for a rapid settlement to the conflict he once boasted he would solve within 24 hours of retaking office, which has raged across a long front line in eastern Ukraine, with frequent attacks by Russia on the rest of the country. Ukraine has also carried out regular attacks in Russian territory.
