Doing so would require the Russian leader to “accept the failure of sitting down with a president he considers a joke from a country that doesn’t exist”

On August 18, 2025, a White House meeting seemed to pave the way for a potential summit between Russian President Vladim

Just after noon, European leaders including Macron, Starmer, von der Leyen, Rutte, and Meloni began arriving one by one at the White House. According to the White House schedule, Trump will first meet with Zelensky at 1:15 p.m. before greeting the European leaders, followed by a multilateral meeting with all parties at 3:00 p.m.

"The Federalist" CEO Sean Davis appeared on FNC's "The Will Cain Show" on Monday and reacted to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House. WILL CAIN,

A summit in Paris six years ago was the first and only time the two presidents ever met, flanked by French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s then-chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, Putin and Zelensky were looking to hash out a ceasefire deal for war in Donbas in Ukraine’s east, where Russia-backed forces were fighting Ukrainian troops.

Zelensky talks puts Kremlin in a bind: accept and legitimise Kyiv’s leader or refuse and face fresh US sanctions. Read here

The Kremlin is keeping its options open, but analysts said the Russian leader would probably only meet with his Ukrainian counterpart to accept a capitulation.