Message to Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine sent by US President Donald Trump with a post on Truth Social just hours before the White House meeting.

As the American president wrote, Zelensky — whom he is hosting later today at the White House — could “end” the war with Russia “almost immediately.”

At the same time, Trump ruled out any possibility that Ukraine could regain control of the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, or that it could join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue the war. Remember how it started. There is no chance that Crimea, given away by Obama (12 years ago, without a shot fired!), will be regained, or that Ukraine will join NATO. Some things never change,” the Republican declared via Truth Social, adding three exclamation marks and typing the entire phrase “join NATO” in capital letters, as he usually does.

Ukrainian President Zelensky will head later today to the White House. He is expected to be accompanied by European leaders and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

According to the White House schedule:
19:00 (Greek time) – European leaders arrive
20:00 – Donald Trump welcomes Volodymyr Zelensky
20:15 – Bilateral Trump–Zelensky meeting begins
21:15 – Trump welcomes the European leaders
22:00 – Multilateral Trump–Europeans meeting begins

Russian strikes before the meeting

Shortly after midnight, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian strikes on the major city of Kharkiv (northeast), near the border, as well as in the neighboring Sumy region, which also borders Russia.

“The number of wounded has risen to 11,” said Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov on Telegram, while earlier the Interior Ministry had spoken of 8 wounded.

In Sumy, regional military chief Oleh Khryhorov reported in two separate messages that Russian strikes — one with a bomb, the other with a loitering drone — injured two people: “a 57-year-old woman,” who “is not in serious condition,” and “a 43-year-old driver,” who “was taken to hospital.”

Talks in Washington between President Zelensky, his European allies, and the American president are taking place three days after the Trump–Putin summit in Alaska, which failed to establish a ceasefire in Ukraine, invaded by Russian forces in February 2022.

Returning from Alaska, Trump endorsed a proposal to offer Ukraine collective security guarantees inspired by NATO’s Article 5, though with Ukraine remaining outside the Atlantic Alliance, since for Moscow the prospect of Ukraine’s NATO membership is seen as an existential threat.

Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, assured that Moscow had promised “certain” territorial “concessions” involving “five” Ukrainian regions, mentioning “significant discussion about Donetsk,” an eastern Ukrainian region currently a top priority for Kremlin forces.

For his part, President Zelensky categorically rules out any territorial concessions.