BRUSSELS: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that she and other European leaders, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, will travel to Washington on Monday for talks with US President Donald Trump.
"At the request of President Zelensky, I will join the meeting with President Trump and other European leaders in the White House tomorrow, " von der Leyen wrote on Sunday on social media platform X.
The German government announced on Sunday that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Washington on Monday, joining other European leaders and Zelensky for talks with Trump, Xinhua news agency reported.
Merz is expected to discuss the current state of peace efforts, a statement said, adding that security guarantees, territorial issues, and continued support for Ukraine will be addressed.
The French presidency told the press on Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Washington on Monday together with Zelensky and other European leaders to advance coordination between Europe and the US.
ANSA news agency reported that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will be in Washington on Monday to attend a meeting with Trump at the White House, together with Zelensky and other European leaders.
Other leaders also making the trip include British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland are rallying around the Ukrainian President after his exclusion from Trump's summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Their pledge to be at Zelensky's side at the White House on Monday is an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated Zelensky in a heated Oval Office encounter.
Putin agreed at his summit in Alaska with Trump that the US and its European allies could offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defence mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war, special US envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview to CNN on Sunday.
Ukraine and its European allies have criticised Putin's stance as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances, and they have expressed unease over Trump's land swap proposal from the outset.