President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will meet with European leaders in London on Monday to discuss peace talks that have languished because of clashing views about how to end his country’s nearly four-year-old war with Russia.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain will host Mr. Zelensky at 10 Downing Street, along with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, for a closed-door discussion.
The trio of European leaders are hoping to bolster Mr. Zelensky’s position in the face of what they view as unacceptable demands by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, including control over all of the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas.
Late Sunday, President Trump criticized Mr. Zelensky by claiming that the Ukrainian leader had not yet read the latest version of peace proposals that emerged from hours of talks between American negotiators and Mr. Putin last week.
“I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “His people love it, but he hasn’t.”
It was not immediately clear what “people” Mr. Trump was referring to, but a previous version of a U.S.-pushed peace plan that reflected many of the Kremlin’s demands had been broadly rejected in Ukraine.
Mr. Trump also told reporters that Russia was “fine” with the latest peace proposals.
“Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country, when you think of it, but Russia is, I believe, fine with it,” Mr. Trump said. “But I’m not sure that Zelensky is fine with it.”
In fact, neither side has embraced the Trump administration’s plan. Mr. Putin said last week that parts of the American proposal to end the war were not workable. Mr. Zelensky said in a social media post on Saturday that he was “determined to keep working” on reaching a peace deal.
“Our approach is that everything must be workable — every crucial measure for peace, security, and reconstruction,” Mr. Zelensky wrote.
To achieve those goals, he will be looking to the European leaders, who have in recent weeks expressed frustration about being cut out of negotiations by Mr. Trump and his team.
Those diplomatic tensions with Europe were on vivid display last week when the Trump administration unveiled an annual update to the United States’ national security strategy that criticized Europe’s handling of the conflict in Ukraine.
The Trump administration “finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition,” the strategy said.
Michael D. Shear is a senior Times correspondent covering British politics and culture, and diplomacy around the world.
The post Zelensky to Meet With European Leaders as Peace Talks Drag On appeared first on New York Times.
