Zelensky prepares to woo Trump one last time

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin this morning, where at 3pm local time he will speak to Donald Trump and his vice president J.D. Vance over video alongside other European leaders to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz brokered the meeting following the news that the American president would be meeting Vladimir Putin in Alaska this coming Friday to discuss a peace deal – without Zelensky present.

Ahead of Zelensky’s summit with Trump and Vance, the Ukrainian president and Merz will first convene a virtual meeting with his strongest European allies. Scheduled for 2pm Berlin time, they will be joined by British PM Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, EU and Nato chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte, as well as the leaders of Poland, Finland and the European Council. 

The aim of this preliminary meeting is to agree on a joint position on how best to present Ukraine’s case to Trump ahead of his meeting with Putin in two days’ time. The American President’s declaration earlier this week that he would be discussing ‘land swaps’ with his Russian counterpart has caused alarm with Zelensky and his allies, who are concerned that Trump could sign away Ukrainian territory to the Kremlin without consultation or permission. 

Ukraine’s European allies are said to be weighing up an attempt to extract a promise from the President not to do so – although given his volatile nature, any such promise from Trump, even if it did materialise, would bear little weight. They reportedly also plan to warn Trump not to trust any promises made by Putin to stick to a ceasefire, as well as discuss how best to prepare Ukraine for eventual full peace negotiations. Merz and Zelensky will then debrief on the meeting with Trump and Vance alongside the other members of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ – those countries, pulled together by Starmer and Macron, who have expressed a desire to back Ukraine financially and militarily in the event of a peace deal with Russia.

The public won’t have long to wait to hear how today’s discussions go: Merz and Zelensky will hold a joint press conference at 4pm local time. Nevertheless, with the notoriously thin-skinned Trump holding Ukraine’s fate in his unpredictable hands, don’t expect either Merz or Zelensky to air any disagreements with the President that may surface in the coming hours.