Five months after his last trip to Washington, which ended in a public Oval Office blowup with President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returns to the White House on Monday. This time, he’ll be accompanied by several European leaders, however, in an attempt to show Europe’s unwavering support of Ukraine and possibly also to avoid a scene like last time, when Zelensky found himself bullied and berated by Trump and Vice President JD Vance in what many thought looked like an ambush.
Following Trump’s inconclusive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, today’s high-level summit will explore a possible pathway to peace in Ukraine, with discussions likely centered around security guarantees, possible territorial concessions and Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO and the EU. Ahead of the meeting, Trump has once made clear who he thinks should make concessions to finally end the long-raging conflict: “Presidents Zelensky of Ukraine could end the war with Russia almost immediately,” he wrote in a social media post on Sunday, adding that there would be “no getting back Crimea” and “no going into NATO by Ukraine.”
While Trump appears to be pushing for a peace deal at all costs, Ukraine and its European allies are unwilling to make certain concessions, which they fear would embolden Putin rather than appease him. Like many Europeans, Americans are also skeptical of Trump’s ability to make wise decisions when it comes to the war in Ukraine. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in August 2025, 6 in 10 U.S. adults have little to no confidence in Trump’s decision-making with respect to the conflict, while only 40 percent of respondents expressed their confidence in the president. His tendency to play nice with Putin while berating Zelensky is of particular concern to many, with 33 percent of respondents saying that Trump is favoring Russia too much, while only six percent said that he’s too firmly on Ukraine’s side.
