Has Europe just prevented another Trump rant at Zelensky in Washington?

It was initially reported as a meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and US president Donald Trump in Washington – a repeat of the circumstances seen back in February which resulted in an “appalling” blowout from Trump and vice president JD Vance.

But now European leaders are set to join Zelensky at the White House on Monday, and social media users think they may have just stopped February’s infamous moment from happening again.

The meeting follows talks between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which lasted for almost three hours and ended without an agreement being reached around a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Despite Fox News reporting Trump was “steamrolled” by his Russian counterpart in the talks, the Republican later took to his Truth Social platform to claim it was a “great and very successful day”, before claiming that it was agreed in calls with Zelensky and European leaders that “the best way to end the horrific war” is to “go directly to a peace agreement”, as opposed to a “ceasefire agreement, which often times do not hold up”.

It's a stance from Trump which has seen him accused of “capitulating to Putin”.

So those joining Zelensky on Monday include UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Finnish president Alexander Stubb.

One social media user wrote that the decision “should offset Trump’s possible attacks against Zelensky”:

Another said it was “the right move”:

LBC presenter and The News Agents podcaster Lewis Goodall commented that European leaders are “clearly cognisant of what happened” back in February:

And Guy Verhofstadt, former Brexit negotiator for the European Parliament, said European leaders rallying around Zelensky was “beautiful”, but called on them to “really help Ukraine”:

Trump, meanwhile, has been complaining about “fake news” on Truth Social in the run-up to the meeting, claiming that if he got Russia to “give up Moscow” as part of a deal with Ukraine, “the fake news” and “radical left Democrats” would “say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal”.

Why not read…

• Trump critics think this one comment proves Putin ‘manipulated’ him
• Was Melania Trump’s letter to Vladimir Putin AI-generated?

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