The world’s attention is turning to the US capital, Washington, where President Donald Trump meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a decisive meeting attended by prominent European leaders, marking a turning point in the course of the Ukrainian war. The meeting comes after the Alaska summit, which produced no breakthrough, making Washington a new testing ground for the possibility of reaching a settlement to end the ongoing conflict.

Zelensky enters the talks insisting on receiving security guarantees that approximate NATO’s umbrella, while US envoy Steve Whitkov (ستيف ويتكوف) revealed exploration of Western support formulas outside the alliance framework. By contrast, Trump showed greater flexibility, abandoning the condition of a ceasefire and asserting that the Ukrainian president is capable of ending the war immediately, hinting at potential pressure on Kyiv to make concessions.

While security guarantees emerge as the main heading of negotiations, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not seeking a genuine peace but rather to impose surrender on Ukraine. Given this divergence between Ukrainian ambitions and Russian objectives, Washington faces a complex task of crafting a settlement to end the war.