POLITICO: European leaders, Zelenskyy discuss Trump in group chat

Leaders of European countries and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are discussing US President Donald Trump in a group chat.

According to people familiar with the matter, European leaders regularly exchange messages in a shared group chat, and sources say trust within these circles is generally high, POLITICO reports.

Over the past year, they have established a well-practised routine of sending messages whenever Trump does something unpredictable and potentially harmful. 

“When things start moving quickly, it’s hard to do the coordination, and this group [chat] is really effective,” said one person familiar with the arrangement. “It tells you a lot about the personal relationships and how they matter.”

Participants include UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The “informal but active” setup is called the Washington Group, named after the European leaders who visited the White House with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last August.

Throughout the past year, European leaders have largely focused on staying calm and responding to Trump’s policy actions rather than being provoked by his words. That approach has helped advance the Ukraine peace process, with the coalition of the willing closing in on a peace plan framework that the US has signed onto — including American security guarantees for Ukraine — a notable milestone given Trump had previously ruled out any US military role, according to the outlet.

By Jeyhun Aghazada