White House unveils agenda for high-stakes Trump meetings with Zelenskyy, EU leaders

US President Donald Trump will host a series of high-stakes meetings in Washington on August 18, beginning with a bilateral session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 1:15 p.m. ET (9:15 p.m. GMT+4), followed by a multilateral meeting with European Union leaders at 3:00 p.m. ET (11:00 p.m. GMT+4).

According to Trump’s schedule published on Roll Call, EU leaders will arrive at the White House at noon for a formal welcome, while Zelenskyy will be greeted shortly before his talks with the US president. A group photo with the European delegation is set for 2:30 p.m (10:30 p.m. GMT+4), Caliber.Az reports. 

The meetings comes as Zelenskyy faces mounting pressure from Trump to accept a rapid peace deal with Russia that could involve ceding Ukrainian territory in exchange for vague security guarantees. Bloomberg writes that the Ukrainian leader, who landed in Washington late on August 17, is in a political bind: reject Trump’s push and risk losing US support, or consider a deal that many in Kyiv fear would only embolden Moscow to strike again in the future.

Tensions are heightened by memories of Zelenskyy’s last visit to the White House in February, which ended in a heated exchange with Trump and a temporary freeze in US military aid.

This time, Zelenskyy arrives accompanied by a host of European leaders — including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — in a show of support.

Yet European officials remain divided and cautious. Some diplomats privately voiced frustration that Trump’s summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin produced few concessions from Moscow, while appearing to align Trump more closely with Putin’s demands.

Following that meeting, Trump dropped his insistence on an immediate ceasefire and instead urged Zelenskyy to “act fast” on a peace plan that could pave the way for direct talks with Putin within a week. Zelenskyy, for his part, has resisted territorial concessions, insisting that any final settlement must be negotiated directly with Russia and cannot be agreed under the “pressure of weapons.”

However, he acknowledged that Moscow had presented a long list of demands and that some form of ceasefire would be necessary to move discussions forward.

European leaders hope their presence in Washington will help stiffen Zelenskyy’s resolve and prevent Kyiv from being cornered into a rushed agreement. 

By Sabina Mammadli