18 August 2025
What to know today
- ZELENSKYY IN D.C. President Donald Trump is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington, D.C., at 1:15 p.m. ET today to discuss a path for ending the war in Ukraine.
- EUROPEAN LEADERS JOIN: Zelenskyy will be joined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
- PUTIN TALKS: Trump also held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, a meeting to which Zelenskyy was not invited. Trump described the summit as “productive” but did not announce a ceasefire deal.
- OVAL OFFICE BLOWUP: Today is the first time Zelenskyy has visited Trump in Washington since February’s Oval Office blowup, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly admonished the Ukrainian leader.
rump further ratcheted up his efforts to end the war in Ukraine by outlining potential Russian sticking points ahead of today’s high-stakes meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders.
“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote last night on Truth Social.
Aiming to secure a peace agreement to end the war, Trump said in the post that Ukraine will likely have to give up “Obama given Crimea,” to Russia, which seized control of the peninsula in 2014. Zelenskyy had pledged to return Crimea to Ukrainian control and has called the prospect of ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia a red line in negotiations.
Souce:nbcnews.com
