Media: Zelenskyy may meet with Trump at White House

Ukrainian and US presidents, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, may meet in the White House later this week amid a flurry of calls between Kyiv and Washington, sources told The Guardian.

Ukraine is pressing for Europe to be involved in the talks, which is more likely to concern Trump’s 28-point peace plan, which calls on Ukraine to withdraw from cities it controls in the eastern Donbas region, limit the size of its army, and not join NATO.

On November 23, during negotiations in Switzerland – led by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak – the plan was substantially revised. It now includes only 19 points.

Kyiv and its European partners say the existing frontline has to be the starting point for territorial discussions. They say there can be no recognition of land seized by Russia militarily, and that Kyiv should make its own decisions on whether to join the EU and NATO – something the Kremlin wants to veto or impose conditions on.

Zelenskyy is now at his most vulnerable point since the war began, as a corruption scandal has led to the dismissal of two of his ministers, while Russia continues to make battlefield gains.

By Khagan Isayev