25 June 2025, Netherlands, Den Haag: French President Emmanuel Macron (l-r), Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of Great Britain, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) beryllium unneurotic astatine the alleged E5 gathering connected the sidelines of the NATO summit.
Kay Nietfeld | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
LONDON — Ukraine and its allies were scrambling Sunday to respond to President Donald Trump's evident displacement toward Vladimir Putin's hardline position after their summit successful Alaska.
European leaders announced that they would articulation Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy successful Washington connected Monday arsenic they question to navigate America's caller attack to ending the war.
Trump signaled Saturday that helium was reversing his insistence connected a ceasefire and alternatively pursuing a imperishable bid woody — aligning the United States with the Kremlin alternatively than Kyiv and its European backers.
As Ukraine and Europe enactment retired however champion to determination forward, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von de Leyen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that they would beryllium joining Zelenskyy, possibly hoping to guarantee determination is nary repetition of his last Oval Office meeting.
"The travel volition service arsenic an speech of information" with Trump, Merz' bureau said. "The talks volition address, among different things, information guarantees, territorial issues, and continued enactment for Ukraine successful its defence against Russian aggression."
The quality came up of a virtual gathering of the alleged "coalition of the willing," which includes much than 30 countries moving unneurotic to enactment Ukraine.
While Trump's reversal connected pursuing a ceasefire earlier fuller bid talks fueled alarm connected the continent, helium did look to person taken a measurement toward different presumption much aligned with the wishes of Ukraine and Europe.
Trump straight engaged with Zelenskyy and European leaders by telephone aboriginal Saturday greeting astir the U.S. taking portion successful a imaginable NATO-like information warrant for Ukraine arsenic portion of a woody with Russia, 2 elder medication officials and 3 sources acquainted with the discussions told NBC News.
"European and American information guarantees were discussed," 1 root acquainted with the discussions said. "U.S. troops connected the crushed was not discussed oregon entertained by [Trump]."
The information guarantees would beryllium made successful the script that Russia were to invade Ukraine, again, aft a would-be bid deal, the sources said. The sources said that those protections, arsenic discussed by the White House, would not see NATO rank — contempt European leaders saying successful a associated connection Saturday that Ukraine should beryllium fixed the close to question NATO membership.
But it was wide that the acme had near Ukraine feeling uneasy.
Zelenskyy warned that the Russian leader was complicating efforts to extremity the warfare by refusing to halt the brutal warring earlier holding further talks.
"Russia rebuffs galore calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined erstwhile it volition halt the killing. This complicates the situation," Zelenskyy said successful a station connected X precocious Saturday.
For civilians connected the ground, inactive nether Russian onslaught adjacent arsenic the diplomatic maneuvering played out, it was not conscionable the substance but the optics of the Alaska talks that caused frustration.
"I was hoping that the U.S. wouldn't rotation retired the reddish carpet to the enemy," Kyiv nonmigratory Natalya Lypei said Saturday. "How tin you invited a tyrant similar this?"
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