Trump-Zelenskyy Meeting Live Updates: Air Raid Sirens In Kyiv As European Leaders Arrive At White House

European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the European leaders were in Washington DC on Monday to work on a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Ahead of a meeting with Donald Trump, Italy’s PM Meloni said that they were all on the side of Ukraine and they hail Trump’s efforts for a resolution of the conflict.

“West is a tool to build peace and guarantee justice. We are on the side of Ukraine, we support the efforts of the President of the United States,” she said, BBC reported.

US President Donald Trump is rewarding his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, rather than punishing him, for failing to meet the US’ deadline for agreeing to a ceasefire.

“It’s profoundly disconcerting what’s happened in the past two weeks. Trump has completely abandoned his demand for a rapid ceasefire, and his threat to impose sanctions, and is increasingly taking Putin’s view that instead the war (in Ukraine) can only be ended by a ‘comprehensive settlement.’” Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the Institute for Strategic Studies, told CNN.

The White House said that the US officials will be present at the Oval Office when Donald Trump meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy today.

On the US side, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and special envoy Keith Kellogg will participate, BBC reported.

On the Ukrainian side, Zelenskyy will have the company of his top chief of staff Andriy Yermak, head of the Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov

Donbas is a region in eastern Ukraine that comprises two regions — Donetsk and Luhansk. They were an industrial powerhouse in the Soviet era, rich in coal mines and steel mills, along with rich farmland, key rivers and a coastline on the Sea of Azov.

It was in this region that Russia put in efforts to “destabilise” Ukraine in 2014 after it annexed Crimea.

Pro-Russian militia came up in the region and quickly took over the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk.

For nearly 8 years, the enclaves witnessed fighting, sometimes fierce, between the Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces.

The Ukrainian data claimed that over 14,000 people died in the region, CNN reported.

There will be no Russian representative at the White House when the European leaders meet Trump today.

However, it may not matter as it appeared that Putin had enough impact on the US President in Alaska meeting that Russians would be confident their point of view would be adequately represented, BBC reported.

Trump has already asked Zelenskyy to leave out his wish to join the NATO — something which Russia has long wanted. Moscow also wants full control over the Donbas, which would mean that Kyiv has to give up the land it still controls in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on US special envoy Keith Kellogg ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump and other European leaders at the White House.

Zelenskyy said that today’s meeting with Trump will be the “first meeting in such a format” in which other European leaders will sit together with Trump over Ukraine war.

“When peace is discussed for one country in Europe, it means peace for all of Europe. We are ready to continue working with maximum effort to end the war and to ensure reliable security. These are the key issues,” he tweeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet the European leaders, who have arrived at the DC to accompany him to Trump’s Summit. He is slated to meet the leaders ahead of the key sit-down with Trump at the White House, CNN reported, citing sources.

The meeting is expected to take place at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, DC.

The leaders are expected to coordinate their positions before their meeting with Trump later in the day.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will “fix” the Russia-Ukraine “disaster”.

“I know exactly what I’m doing, and I don’t need the advice of people who have been working on all of these conflicts for years, and were never able to do a thing to stop them. They are “STUPID” people, with no common sense, intelligence, or understanding, and they only make the current R/U disaster more difficult to FIX. Despite all of my lightweight and very jealous critics, I’ll get it done — I always do,” he wrote on Truth Social.

United Kingdom PM Keir Starmer said he is on his way to Washington DC for the White House Summit, hosted by President Donald Trump later today.

“It’s (war) impacted Ukrainians. But it has also impacted Europe, and family and community in the UK. So everybody wants this to end, not just Ukrainians,” he said in a video posted on X.

The European leaders, who will meet Donald Trump at the White House today, would want to secure NATO-like security guarantees for Ukraine for a durable peace in the region.

They will push for Trump to incline towards Ukraine again so that Zelenskyy does not have to let go of the territories demanded by Putin in the Alaska Summit.

Trump earlier said that Putin wants the key Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas, AP reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a phone call from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, in which the latter briefed him about the details of his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska.

PM Modi reiterated India’s position for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through diplomacy and dialogue, and extended India’s support for all efforts in this regard.

Inna Sovsun told CNN that without security guarantees by the United States, discussions “make no sense”. Her remarks came hours before the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting at the White House today.

“Putin will start again: a new war in a week, a month, in a year, five years from now. We need to make sure that we will be protected from any other attack from the Russian side,” she said.

The upcoming discussion between President Trump and Zelenskyy seems to be focused on the kind of concessions Ukraine is willing to make to end the war rather than exploring options of a “real peace”, Inna Sovsun, member of the Ukrainian Parliament, told CNN.

“If the country that is defending itself will stop fighting, that will be capitulation — not the peace deal … We want the peace, but we need to make sure that it is a real peace, a real peace that will be long-lasting and stable,” she said.

Trump had given Putin the deadline to agree to a ceasefire by August 8 or face new sanctions on its “shadow fleet”. However, that did not happen, instead he announced that day that he would meet Putin in Alaska on Friday.

On Friday, ahead of his meeting with Trump he said that he wanted to see a ceasefire “rapidly” and he would not be happy if that did not happen. He also warned Russia of “serious consequences” if there was no ceasefire agreement that day.

On Saturday, Trump spoke with Zelenskyy and European leaders on his Summit with Putin. Zelenskyy and other allies announced that they would fly to Washington DC to meet Trump on Monday.

On Sunday, Special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN that Putin had agreed to allow “robust” security guarantees to Ukraine as part of the possible deal, including an Article 5-type provision according to which the US and Europe could make collective defence of Ukraine if Russia invades Ukraine again.

However, late on Sunday, Trump said that Zelenskyy could end the war “immediately if he wants to” by leaving aside his hopes to join NATO.

The Russian attacks on key Ukrainian cities claimed at least 10 lives on Monday, Reuters reported.

The United Kingdom has welcomed the readiness of the United States to extend security guarantees to Ukraine to avert future Russian attack.

“We welcome the US statement around Article Five-style security guarantees, that provide significant security to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal,” a spokesperson of Downing Street said on Monday, CNN reported.

Donald Trump made a shocking remark about Ukraine as he asked President Zelenskyy to give up his wish to join NATO. His remarks came just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a joint press conference with Trump in Alaska that the “root causes” of the ongoing conflict must be “eliminated”, and Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership was one of the causes behind Russia’s war.

“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 NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Donald Trump posted a message on his social media platform Truth Social ahead of today’s Summit.

“A big day at the White House. We have never had so many European Leaders here at one time. A great honor for America!!! Lets see what the results will be???” he wrote.

Below are the probable timings in IST and ET for the proceedings at the White House, as per CNN.

9:30 PM IST, Aug 18 — European leaders arrive at the White House (12:00 p.m. ET)

10:30 PM IST, Aug 18 — Trump greets Zelenskyy (1:00 p.m. ET)

10:45 PM IST, Aug 18 — Bilateral: Trump & Zelenskyy (1:15 p.m. ET)

11:45 PM IST, Aug 18 — Trump greets European leaders (2:15 p.m. ET)

12:30 AM IST, Aug 19 — Multilateral with European leaders (3:00 p.m. ET)

After the Alaska Summit on Friday, Donald Trump spoke with the European leaders and also invited them to the White House on Monday.

They will come to Washington today in a bid to show solidarity with Ukraine and present a united Western front.

They also want to make sure that Zelenskyy is not humiliated by Trump, as it happened on February 28.