Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Washington on Monday, where he is expected to be pressed to accept Russia’s conditions for a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine.
The visit follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. According to Western media, Trump subsequently held a “difficult” phone call with Zelensky and several NATO leaders.
On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he now believes the best way to end the conflict is through a peace agreement rather than a quick ceasefire. The shift marks a significant change from his earlier position and aligns closely with Moscow’s insistence on a comprehensive settlement.
Over the weekend, Russia’s offensive on the ground—which is shaping events on the diplomatic front—continued with Russian forces advancing deeper into the Dnipropetrovsk region and consolidating gains north of Pokrovsk, where they achieved a major breakthrough earlier in the week.
Ukrainian officials have already signaled resistance to such terms. On Saturday, Zelensky’s adviser Serhiy Leshchenko told Ukrainian media that Kyiv would not accept any territorial concessions, a key Russian demand in any agreement.
The Washington trip will be Zelensky’s first since his contentious February 28 meeting with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, which ended in a heated argument. That confrontation culminated in Trump ejecting the Ukrainian delegation from the White House.
At the time, the dispute centered on Trump’s call for a ceasefire, which Zelensky rejected. He only later agreed to a truce after Trump suspended weapons transfers and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, and after a U.S.-Ukrainian summit was held in Saudi Arabia—an event Zelensky himself did not attend.
Monday’s meeting is widely seen as an attempt to secure Zelensky’s agreement in principle to a peace framework. However, it remains uncertain whether Trump will once again threaten to suspend U.S. arms shipments, financial aid, and intelligence support if Zelensky refuses Washington’s terms.