Russian Invasion of Ukraine | A War in Europe After Hours

[Gemma]

Ahead of his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders later today, Donald Trump has put pressure on Ukraine's president to end the war "almost immediately".

He said Zelenskyy can do this "if he wants to, or he can continue to fight"

Trump's social media post this morning gives us a flavour of what we can expect from today's talks.

"No getting back Obama given Crimea... and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE," Trump wrote.

I think there could be fireworks again today. I don't care what the likes of Starmer say, Trump made a huge blunder on Friday by basically bowing to Putin.

 

[Abomb]

I think this meeting will be worse than the one in February.

Trump has capitulated and is now in line with Putin and Russia's demands.

I hope he gets humiliated in his own backyard by all the leaders, but I doubt that will happen. In my opinion, there is every chance that things will move on without more input from Trump or America, although they will continue to sell arms to Ukraine via NATO partners.

 

[Strawberry Man]

Who knows what is about to happen. I see JD Vance will also be present in the meetinv with Zelenskyy. Another ambush?

Ukraine are being asked to give up land they currently hold. They are not going to agree to that.

 

[Bingo]

Watching the Oval Office "meeting".

Somehow, it feels that the media have far too much input - nothing short of a baying mob at a very delicate time - which is a bit crazy, really. The press are here surely to report the news, not to create the news or point score or give Trump a chance to talk rubbish about 6 wars.

The post-meeting press conference before the meeting?

 

[Tom]

Not actually sure what is going on here - Trump is raging about corrupt elections, especially the mail-in voting system, in America, Joe Biden being stupid and corrupt, so many tangents. This is a shambles of a meeting.

The Ukrainian delegation is probably thinking, "What the fuck is this?"

 

[Bingo]

Not actually sure what is going on here - Trump is raging about corrupt elections, especially the mail-in voting system, in America, Joe Biden being stupid and corrupt, so many tangents. This is a shambles of a meeting.

That was probably a good thing, as Zelenskyy didn't need to engage in much and was able to dodge some questions.

The next meeting, involving the European leaders, will be pivotal for what happens next.

 

[Franco Pinion]

The state of the "journalists" questions in the Oval Office

 

[Tom]

Here's a recap of the key moments.

• Donald Trump pledged to "help out" Europe to provide protection for Ukraine after the war ends;
• He said no ceasefire was needed and a peace deal could be worked out while Russia and Ukraine were at war;
• The US president denied it was "the end of the road" for US support for Ukraine;
• Zelenskyy said he was ready for a trilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin;
• He reiterated it was not safe to hold elections during wartime;
• A reporter who attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit at his last meeting with Trump in February complimented him on his "fabulous" outfit.

 

[Tom]

Donald Trump has interrupted the meeting with European leaders to call Vladimir Putin, according to a new report in Germany.

Bild reports on the development and says the meeting will continue afterwards.

Trump initially said he would call the Russian leader after meeting with the leaders in Washington.

 

[Franco Pinion]

Donald Trump has outlined what could be the next steps following the meetings in the White House this evening.

He also confirmed he spoke to Vladimir Putin to begin arrangements for a meeting between the Russian leader and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

This would then be followed by a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy.

This is different to what was discussed earlier in the evening, including by Trump himself, when it was suggested that a trilateral meeting would be the next step.



Still a long way to go, but this seems to have been fairly successful after the initial surreal meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office that kicked off today's events.

Donald definitely wants that Nobel Peace Prize!