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KYIV, Ukraine: European and NATO leaders announced Sunday they will join President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington to present a united front in talks with President Donald Trump on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine and firming up US security guarantees now on the negotiating table.
Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland are rallying around the Ukrainian president after his exclusion from Trump’s summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their pledge to be at Zelensky’s side at the White House on Monday is an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated Zelensky in a heated Oval Office encounter.
“The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Mr. Zelensky to the hilt,” said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France’s military mission at the United Nations.
“It’s a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump,” he said.
Putin agreed at his summit in Alaska with Trump that the US and its European allies could offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war, special US envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
It “was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that,” said Witkoff, who called it “game-changing.”

Later, French President Emmanuel Macron said the European delegation will ask Trump to back plans they drafted to beef-up Ukraine’s armed forces — already Europe’s largest outside of Russia — with more training and equipment to secure any peace.
“We need a credible format for the Ukrainian army, that’s the first point, and say — we Europeans and Americans — how we’ll train them, equip them, and finance this effort in the long-term,” the French leader said.
The European-drafted plans also envision an allied force in Ukraine away from the front lines to reassure Kyiv that peace will hold and to dissuade another Russian invasion, Macron said. He spoke after a nearly two-hour video call Sunday with nations in Europe and further afield — including Canada, Australia and Japan — that are involved in the so-called “coalition of the willing.”
The “several thousand men on the ground in Ukraine in the zone of peace” would signal that “our fates are linked,” Macron said.
“This is what we must discuss with the Americans: Who is ready to do what?” Macron said. “Otherwise, I think the Ukrainians simply cannot accept commitments that are theoretical.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier at a news conference in Brussels with Zelensky that “we welcome President Trump’s willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. And the ‘coalition of the willing’ — including the European Union — is ready to do its share.”
Macron said the substance of security guarantees will be more important than whether they are given an Article 5-type label.
“A theoretical article isn’t enough, the question is one of substance,” he said. “We must start out by saying that the first of the security guarantees for Ukraine is a strong Ukrainian army.”
Along with Von der Leyen and Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also said they’ll will take part in Monday’s talks, as will secretary-general of the NATO military alliance, Mark Rutte.
The European leaders’ support could help ease concerns in Kyiv and in other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal.
Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said European leaders are trying to “shape this fast-evolving agenda.” After the Alaska summit, the idea of a ceasefire appears all-but-abandoned, with the narrative shifting toward Putin’s agenda of ensuring Ukraine does not join NATO or even the EU.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that a possible ceasefire is “not off the table” but that the best way to end the war would be through a “full peace deal.”
Putin has implied that he sees Europe as a hindrance to negotiations. He has also resisted meeting Zelensky in person, saying that such a meeting can only take place once the groundwork for a peace deal has been laid.
Speaking to the press after his meeting with Trump, the Russian leader raised the idea that Kyiv and other European capitals could “create obstacles” to derail potential progress with “behind-the-scenes intrigue.”
For now, Zelensky offers the Europeans the “only way” to get into the discussions about the future of Ukraine and European security, says RUSI’s Melvin.

However, the sheer number of European leaders potentially in attendance means the group will have to be “mindful” not to give “contradictory” messages, Melvin said.
“The risk is they look heavy-handed and are ganging up on Trump,” he added. “Trump won’t want to be put in a corner.”
Although details remain hazy on what Article 5-like security guarantees from the US and Europe would entail for Ukraine, it could mirror NATO membership terms, in which an attack on one member of the alliance is seen as an attack on all.
Zelensky continues to stress the importance of both US and European involvement in any negotiations.
“A security guarantee is a strong army. Only Ukraine can provide that. Only Europe can finance this army, and weapons for this army can be provided by our domestic production and European production. But there are certain things that are in short supply and are only available in the United States,” he said at the press conference Sunday alongside Von der Leyen.
Zelensky also pushed back against Trump’s assertion — which aligned with Putin’s preference — that the two sides should negotiate a complete end to the war, rather than first securing a ceasefire. Zelensky said a ceasefire would provide breathing room to review Putin’s demands.
“It’s impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons,” he said. “Putin does not want to stop the killing, but he must do it.”
 

BELGRADE: Serbia’s president on Sunday vowed a “strong” response to anti-government protests, after nearly a week of violent clashes involving his supporters, police and demonstrators across the country.

Clashes have erupted in the capital, Belgrade and other cities for five nights in a row, with fireworks, stones, stun grenades and tear gas used.
More than 130 police officers have been injured so far, the right-wing President Aleksandar Vucic said at a press conference in Belgrade, with dozens of citizens also reporting injuries and seeking medical assistance.
On Saturday, violence flared in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Valjevo, where a small group of masked men attacked and set fire to the empty offices of Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party.
“You will see the full determination of the Serbian state. We will use everything at our disposal to restore law, peace and order,” Vucic said.
He added that the government needed a few days to prepare “the legal and formal framework” for the response.
“It will be very different from what you have seen so far,” he added, without disclosing details, but said that declaring a state of emergency was not being considered.
Vucic compared anti-government protesters with “terrorists,” a term he has frequently repeated since mass demonstrations began late last year.
Almost daily protests have gripped Serbia since November, following the collapse of a railway station roof that killed 16 people.
The tragedy became a symbol of deep-rooted corruption in the Balkan nation, with demands for a transparent investigation growing into calls for early elections.
At their peak, the protests drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets.
The mostly peaceful demonstrations deteriorated earlier this week when large groups of pro-government supporters — many masked and some armed with batons and fireworks — attacked protesters.
That sparked violent clashes, further fueled by videos shared online showing police striking unarmed demonstrators with batons.
Police have denied allegations of brutality, and accused demonstrators of attacking officers.
The EU’s commissioner for enlargement, Marta Kos, earlier this week said violence reported at protests was “deeply concerning.”
Vucic said he had also received personal messages from other European officials recently, but did not provide further details.
The protests were also being followed in Russia, which remains a close Serbian ally despite Belgrade’s declared path to the EU.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday saying that it may offer further support to Vucic and describing the protests as “violent riots.”