Facing pressure from Trump, Ukraine's Zelenskyy looking to Europeans for support, says report

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seeking renewed backing from European allies following a meeting with US President Donald Trump during which he was pressured to make territorial concessions or risk annihilation by Russia.

The high-stakes conversation, which took place at the White House on Friday, was marked by tension and disagreement.

According to individuals familiar with the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to diplomatic sensitivities, Trump dismissed maps outlining the front lines and encouraged Ukraine to hand over the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia in order to secure peace, The Washington Post reported.

“He said Putin will destroy you if you don’t agree now,” one person recounted.

“Zelenskyy had his maps and everything and he was explaining it … but (Trump) wanted nothing to do with it," the person said.

According to the same source, Trump showed little interest in Ukraine’s arguments.

“It was pretty much like ‘no, look guys, you can’t possibly win back any territory … There is nothing we can do to save you. You should try to give diplomacy another chance’," the source added.

- Trump approach shifted after phone call with Putin

This apparent shift in Trump’s approach came just days after he publicly floated the idea of sending Zelenskyy Tomahawk missiles to expand Ukraine’s strike capabilities against Russia. However, that changed following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, the night before the Friday meeting with Zelenskyy, during which Putin reportedly insisted that Kyiv surrender all of Donbas — a region Moscow has failed to fully occupy in more than 10 years of conflict — as a condition for ending the war.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out territorial concessions to end the conflict.

A European official said Trump’s rhetoric pivoted significantly after the call. While previously discussing supplying advanced weaponry, he shifted during the Zelensky meeting to advocating for territorial concessions. “Now he was saying the US needs (to keep its) Tomahawks, and doesn’t want to escalate.”

Putin has warned that the US sending Ukraine Tomahawk missiles would escalate the conflict.

A European diplomat who got a briefing on the meeting characterized it as chaotic and unfocused. According to the diplomat, Trump also “went on and on” about “his grievances of not having gotten the Nobel Peace Prize.” Regarding the war, the diplomat said, “the message was that Russia only wants Donbas and this is a good deal and Putin wants to end the war and it can be done quickly.”