The last time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was inside the Oval Office, he was berated by his US hosts, denied a planned luncheon and abruptly asked to leave the West Wing.
“He can come back when he is ready for peace,” President Donald Trump said after the meeting fell apart.
Six months later, Zelensky is returning to the White House on Monday to learn more details of Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and to learn what, exactly, the US president envisions peace looking like in Ukraine.
During the meeting in February, Trump told Zelensky: “You don’t have the cards.”
After Trump’s summit with Putin in Alaska, it remained unclear how the deck had been reshuffled.
Initial indications have not been received particularly well, either by the Ukrainians or by European officials briefed on the contents of the nearly three-hour summit in Anchorage. Trump said afterward he was abandoning his hope for an immediate ceasefire, pushing instead for a full peace agreement without first insisting Russia’s bombardments end.
That is the opposite stance of European leaders and Zelensky, who say Ukraine cannot be made to negotiate its future while under constant attack from Moscow.
So, too, has Trump seemed receptive to Putin’s plan for major land concessions by the Ukrainians as a condition for ending the war. Trump told European officials on the phone as he was arriving back in Washington that Putin had not abandoned his demand for the entire eastern Donbas region, suggesting the war could be resolved quickly if Zelensky agreed to give it up.
Trump’s openness to US security guarantees for Ukraine once the war ends has given some European officials hope, but the specifics of what he’s willing to provide remain unknown.
It all will make for consequential discussions inside the Oval Office on Monday, as Trump presses for an end to a conflict he once promised to resolve within a day of taking office.
Since the fracas in February, Trump and Zelensky have gone a long way toward repairing their relationship. European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have provided Zelensky pointers in how to approach Trump, suggesting a less combative attitude and more overt demonstrations of gratitude for US support.
Zelensky was sure to note his gratitude for the invitation to Washington, writing Saturday on X, “On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war. I am grateful for the invitation.”
European leaders have also been invited to Trump’s meeting with Zelensky, a White House official told CNN. It’s unclear which leaders are scheduled to attend, but it could be a show of unity toward Zelensky, who has the backing of Europe.
Officials in Europe said they were working to include Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has bonded with Trump over golf, in the talks. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte could also travel to Washington for the meeting, one official said.
The optics of an Oval Office invitation just days after the summit with Putin in Alaska are significant. While Putin was treated to a showy display of welcome in Anchorage, he was not pictured alongside the US president in the Oval Office — a room he hasn’t been in since 2005.
President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska. – Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Trump clapped when Putin walked down the tarmac and joined the US president inside his armored limo — a rare sight for any foreign leader, let alone an adversary. Trump described the talks as “warm,” and the imagery from the day underscored Putin’s return to the diplomatic fold after being frozen out following his invasion of Ukraine.
Still, he was also greeted by a show of force: a B-2 bomber flyover and four F-22 Raptors parked alongside Air Force One, the same planes used to intercept Russian aircraft when they intrude in American airspace.
Monday will be Zelensky’s first time returning to the Oval Office since Trump said he was “gambling with World War III” and Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of a lack of gratitude, asking him, “Have you said thank you once?” A source familiar said Vance will also attend Monday’s meeting.
But Trump and Zelensky have met face-to-face twice since then, and their relationship has greatly improved.
In April, Trump met briefly with Zelensky in the Vatican before Pope Francis’ funeral and in June on the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
“You know we had some rough times,” Trump said after his meeting with Zelensky at NATO. “He couldn’t have been nicer.”
“I took from the meeting that he’d like to see it end,” Trump added.
The Vatican meeting was an intimate one, with Zelensky and Trump huddled closely across from each other in St. Peter’s Basilica underneath a massive painting of Jesus’ baptism.
“I believe that we had the best conversation with President Trump of all those that have taken place before,” Zelensky told reporters after the meeting.
After the meeting, Trump threatened potential new sanctions on Russia and questioned whether Putin was serious about peace or “tapping” him along.
But several months later, he has stopped short of applying the new sanctions, and many Western officials believe Putin is still stringing along the president as he plays for time to accomplish his war aims.
In May, after Putin blew off an opportunity to meet with Zelensky in Istanbul, sending a lower-level delegation instead, Trump told reporters, “Look, nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together, OK?”
Trump has cleared that hurdle, but achieving a lasting peace remains elusive.
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