The White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being convened with unprecedented haste unseen since the time just before the Iraq war.

Source: The New York Times, citing a European diplomat

Details: The diplomat told The New York Times that the main fear among allies is a repeat of the February row, when Trump publicly quarrelled with Zelenskyy, claiming that Ukraine didn’t “have the cards” in the war with Russia.

Quote: “One senior European diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of angering Mr. Trump, described a sense of panic among European allies. The diplomat had not seen a meeting like the one set for Monday come together so quickly since just before the Iraq War.”

Details: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, denied that Europeans are travelling to Washington as Zelenskyy’s “posse”, emphasising that the leaders had been invited by the Americans themselves following a series of joint consultations.

European allies fear that Trump is effectively playing into Putin’s hands by rejecting the idea of a ceasefire as a prerequisite for peace.

Putin has made no secret of the fact that he wants peace only once he achieves his military objectives.

The New York Times believes this makes any peace agreement unlikely. However, when the leaders meet at the White House on Monday, they will discuss not only borders but also security guarantees for Ukraine, including the potential deployment of a peacekeeping contingent.

Background: On 17 August, the Coalition of the Willing confirmed its readiness to deploy security forces in Ukraine immediately after the end of hostilities, to help secure Ukraine’s air and maritime space and to regenerate the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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