Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday struck a defiant tone ahead of his highly anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Zelenskyy, who will be joined by several European leaders (see entry below) hoping to intervene with Trump on his behalf, announced he had arrived in Washington, then wrote: "Russia must end this war, which it itself started."
"Ukrainians are fighting for their land, their independence," the Ukrainian leader wrote, adding that he hoped "our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace."
Trump, who publicly berated Zelenskyy during his last trip to the White House, has increasingly sought to pressure him into making concessions to Putin to get the Russians to stop the invasion. Kyiv's European backers, however, have come out against changing Ukraine's borders, saying such a step would reward Russia's military aggression.
Still, Trump suggested after a Friday meeting with Putin — widely panned as a PR coup for the Russian strongman fawned over by Trump — that President Zelenskyy could end Russia's three-and-a-half-year invasion "almost immediately if he wants to."
The Ukrainian leader has said he cannot cede territory nor drop his country's bid to join the NATO defense alliance.