In tense meeting, Trump told Zelensky to concede land, meet Putin’s demands
Following the trip to Washington, Zelensky has set up a series of calls and meetings with his main European backers.
washingtonpost.com
BRUSSELS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is rallying the support of his European partners after a bruising meeting with President Donald Trump, in which he was told to make concessions to end the war or risk facing destruction at the hands of Russia.
In a tense meeting at the White House on Friday, Trump tossed aside maps of the front line and urged Kyiv to concede its entire Donbas region to Russia to clinch a deal, according to people familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive diplomacy.
“He said [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will destroy you if you don’t agree now,” one of the people said. “Zelensky had his maps and everything, and he was explaining it to him but wanted nothing to do with it.”
Trump listened but was not responsive to the Ukrainian message, the person said. “It was pretty much like ‘No, look guys, you can’t possibly win back any territory. … There is nothing we can do to save you. You should try to give diplomacy another chance.’”
In remarks released Monday, Zelensky said it was “very important” that the Europeans have “a unified position” with Kyiv and that they would “also address the United States in various formats.” He told reporters he planned to meet with European allies this week.
As European leaders issue proclamations of support for Zelensky, his White House disappointment is set to dominate diplomatic talks this week, including a European Union summit Thursday.
Just days after musing about giving Zelensky Tomahawk missiles to strike Russia, Trump’s latest swerve on the war appeared to stem from a call with Putin last week. Putin demanded that Kyiv surrender Donbas as a condition to end the war.
A European official said Trump moved from talk of long-range missiles before the call to land swaps in his meeting with Zelensky. “Now he was saying the U.S. needs Tomahawks and doesn’t want to escalate.”
A European diplomat briefed on the White House exchange described it as a mess and said Trump also “went on and on” about “his grievances of not having gotten the Nobel Peace Prize.”
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