Former U.S. President Donald Trump urged Ukraine to abandon its NATO ambitions and give up on reclaiming Crimea ahead of his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sparking new debate over the future of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, on the eve of a White House meeting.
U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Sunday (August 17, 2025) that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy could chose to end the war with Russia “almost immediately,” but retaking Russian-occupied Crimea or joining NATO are off the table.
“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, on the eve of a White House meeting with the Ukrainian President and European leaders.
“No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!” he added.
RUSSIAN PEACE PROPOSAL
The outline of Putin’s proposals, reported by Reuters earlier, appears impossible for Zelenskiy to accept. Ukrainian forces are deeply dug into the Donetsk region, whose towns and hills serve as a crucial defensive zone to stymie Russian attacks.
Concerned that they would be shut out of the conversation after a summit with Putin to which they were not invited, European leaders held a call with Zelenskiy on Sunday to align on a common strategy for the meetings with Trump.
“It’s important for the Europeans to be there: respects them, he behaves differently in their presence,” Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian lawmaker from Zelenskiy’s ruling party, told Reuters.
“D-Day at the White House” said Britain’s Daily Mail, while the Daily Mirror said “Europe takes a stand” in its front page headline. Germany’s Die Welt called it the “moment of truth” for the U.S. president.
US President Donald Trump posts, “President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight. Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO… pic.twitter.com/6sOzalxY8N
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 18, 2025
“It is probably not an exaggeration to say the whole world is looking to Washington,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said at a press briefing.
Relations between Kyiv and Washington, once extremely close, have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House in January.
However, Ukraine’s pressing need for U.S. weapons and intelligence sharing, some of which have no viable alternative, has forced Zelenskiy and his allies to work with Trump.
Zelensky in Oval Office ‘again’
Zelensky returns to the Oval Office on Monday for the first time since a spectacularly tense exchange with Donald Trump saw their talks cut short and question marks raised over future US support.
At the February 28 meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky on live television, accusing him of being ungrateful for US aid provided since Russia’s invasion three years prior, and pressing for quick negotiations to end the war.
European leaders are set to meet with Zelensky in Washington on Monday. Their primary goal is to avoid another disruptive incident at the White House. Additionally, they aim to coordinate strategies for advancing peace talks, particularly focusing on measures to deter future Russian aggression.
Zelensky is expected to first meet one-on-one with Trump, before they are joined by European leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, a European government source told AFP.
In a significant development, the Trump administration has indicated its willingness to offer security guarantees to Ukraine, a move that was welcomed on Sunday by Ukrainian and European officials.
Why Russia bristles at Europe’s role in Zelensky peace talks?
Putin views Europe as an “obstacle” to meaningful negotiations. He has also refused to meet with Zelensky face-to-face, insisting that such a meeting should only happen once a peace framework is in place.
After his talks with Trump, Putin told reporters that Kyiv and several European capitals might attempt to sabotage progress through “backroom maneuvering” and political interference.
Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, stated that the West should provide Russia with the same reliable security guarantees it has promised to Ukraine.
“Many EU leaders emphasize that the future peace agreement should provide reliable security guarantees for Ukraine. Russia agrees with this. But it has every right to expect that Moscow will also receive effective security guarantees,” his statement said.
According to Ulyanov, the West is making a mistake by not starting to discuss such a step concerning Russia. The Permanent Representative stressed that these guarantees should be “much more reliable than the notorious promises” about NATO’s non-expansion to the east, as per Tass.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that European leaders would ask US President Donald Trump how far he would support security guarantees for Ukraine, adding that he did not think Russia wanted peace.
On Moscow’s position, he said: “There is only one state proposing a peace that would be a capitulation: Russia.”
And just as there could be no discussion of Ukrainian territory without Ukraine, so there could be “no discussions about the security of Europeans without them”, he added.
Trump said that if talks with Zelensky on August 18 in Washington are successful, a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will be scheduled; however, the White House host did not specify whether the meeting would be a trilateral one, Tass reported.
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