Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Nato summit in The Hague on Wednesday, in what Kyiv described as a “long and substantive meeting.”
The two leaders discussed a potential ceasefire, as well as additional sanctions on Russia and avenues for arms procurement to support Ukraine’s ongoing war effort, according to officials from the Ukrainian presidency.
A source from Zelenskyy’s office told AFP that the Ukrainian leader was “satisfied” with the outcome of the talks. No further details on the meeting were immediately made public, but it marked a rare face-to-face between the two leaders as Ukraine continues to seek international military and diplomatic backing in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Earlier, Trump had confirmed he would meet Zelenskyy, saying, “We’ll discuss the obvious… He’s a nice guy.” The meeting comes amid growing global attention on Ukraine’s stalled counteroffensive, the humanitarian toll of the conflict, and shifting Western attitudes about continued military aid.
With the Israel-Iranian conflict dominating the news and the summit agenda focused on the new 5% defense spending target, Ukraine no longer took center stage.
This was chiefly because of one man: Trump has shown little appetite for ramping up military assistance for Ukraine, and there are growing fears he might disengage from the war altogether. He has also ruffled the feathers of his NATO allies by publicly doubting the U.S. commitment to Article 5.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte set out to demonstrate that transatlantic unity remains strong — even if that meant appeasing Trump with flattery and deprioritizing potentially divisive topics like Ukraine.
This shift was underscored by the summit’s final statement, which offered little more than stale words of comfort to the war-torn country, even as Russia launched new large-scale attacks against its cities.
President Volodymyr Zelensky did not leave the summit empty-handed, however. He got his much-desired meeting with Trump, which seemed to have gone smoothly.
Rutte also sought to reassure Kyiv that support for Ukraine holds, stressing that allies have committed some 35 billion euros ($40 billion) in aid to Ukraine this year so far, about 10 billion euros more than in the first half of last year.
But it hasn’t dispelled the sense that an era is ending — one in which Ukraine’s struggle against Russia held an unquestioned place at the center of NATO’s agenda.