THE WASHINGTON POST: Ukraine summit sees European leaders ‘double down’ on backing Zelensky after Trump blowup

Rattled European leaders on Sunday said they were “doubling down” on supporting Ukraine and boosting military aid following the televised Oval Office blowup between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The embattled Mr Zelensky was greeted with cheers outside 10 Downing Street and a warm hug from British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer when he arrived late Saturday for an emergency summit of European leaders. The pair embraced again at the start of the session Sunday, which Sir Keir described as a “once-in-a-generation moment” for European security, and sat side-by-side during the talks.

The display of support stood in stark contrast to comments from Trump administration officials Sunday, who heaped blame on Mr Zelensky for the White House uproar. National security adviser Michael Waltz described Mr Zelensky’s behaviour as “incredibly disrespectful,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused him of disrupting US efforts to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war.

The London gathering, which included the leaders of Germany, France, Canada and other nations, did not produce a formal statement. But participants agreed to sustain or boost military aid flowing to Ukraine, Sir Keir told reporters afterwards, and to insist that Kyiv be directly involved in any negotiations with Moscow to end the war.

Sir Keir, who has talked to Mr Trump at least twice since the Zelensky meeting, said the gathering solidified Britain’s own commitment to Ukraine.

“We are doubling down,” he said. He announced a new $US2.7 billion ($4.3b) loan for Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets, and $US2 billion in export financing to help Kyiv purchase air defence missiles manufactured in Belfast.

Europe’s aim now, he said, was to arm Ukraine sufficiently so that it could begin any peace talks from a position of strength. Countries have expressed interest in joining a “coalition of the willing” to help monitor a ceasefire, he said, but no formal commitments have been announced.

Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron, both of whom also met with Mr Trump last week, were working to shape a diplomatic cleanup of US-Ukraine relations, the UK PM said. The two and “possibly one or two others” would act as mediators between Washington and Kyiv, seeking a ceasefire plan acceptable to Ukraine and Europe that they could present to Trump.

Immediately after the summit, Mr Zelensky flew by helicopter to an audience with King Charles III at Sandringham, the monarch’s country retreat. Mr Zelensky, who on Friday left the White House early after the fractious exchange with Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance, said the king’s invitation made him “very happy.”

Sir Keir also extended a royal invitation to Mr Trump, and a full-blown state visit, at their Thursday meeting at the White House, as part of his own attempt to shore up American support for Ukraine.

The prime minister, asked Sunday whether he trusted Mr Trump, answered yes, saying he believed the US President was sincere in his desire for a lasting peace in Ukraine. But he acknowledged that the Oval Office verbal brawl made him squirm.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday’s summit, which was planned before Mr Zelensky’s meeting with Mr Trump, was meant to make clear that Europe remained committed to the embattled country.

Following the meeting, she told reporters that Europe needed “a surge” in military spending to rearm itself.

Sir Keir and Mr Macron made clear they would continue their campaign to rescue at least some American backing for Ukraine, even as they confronted growing evidence that Mr Trump’s pivot toward Mr Putin could be genuine and lasting, and that Europe would be forced to take on more of Ukraine’s - and possibly its own - defence.

“Beyond the frayed nerves, everybody should return to calm, respect and recognition, so we can move forward concretely, because what’s at stake is too important,” Mr Macron told French reporters late Saturday.

He said Mr Zelensky had told him that he was willing to “restore dialogue” with the United States, including on a negotiated US-Ukrainian minerals agreement that went unsigned during his abortive DC visit.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has established warmer relations with Trump than most leaders in Western Europe, meeting with him three times since the beginning of the year.

The right-wing leader suggested Sunday that Italy could “play a key role in bridge-building.” But the White House meltdown puts her in a squeeze between Mr Trump, other European leaders and her rivals at home. Meloni has staunchly backed Ukraine and opposed Russia, even against pushback from within her ruling coalition. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, a political rival, lashed out repeatedly at Ukraine over the weekend and called on Italy to side with Trump on ending the war.

The Italian press has featured interviews of Paolo Zampolli, an Italian-born New York real estate investor known as a close Trump ally. During a tour through Italy, Mr Zampolli made clear Trump’s antipathy for Mr Zelensky and the anger Ms Meloni could face from the right for backing him.

“Meloni’s position on Ukraine must change,” Mr Zampolli told the Italian outlet Il Foglio. “(Mr Trump) doesn’t like it.”

Trump officials lined up Sunday to pin the White House blowup on Mr Zelensky.

Mr Rubio accused the Ukrainian president of foiling Mr Trump’s plans to strike a ceasefire with Russia, claiming Mr Zelensky disrupted American efforts to get Mr Putin to the negotiating table.

“That’s our goal,” Mr Rubio said in an interview with ABC News’s This Week. “Don’t do anything to disrupt that. And that’s what Zelensky did, unfortunately. He found every opportunity to try to ‘Ukraine-splain’ on every issue.”

Tulsi Gabbard, Mr Trump’s national intelligence director, said Mr Zelensky “directly challenged” Mr Trump in the Oval Office and “showed his lack of interest in any good-faith negotiations.”

“There’s going to have to be a rebuilding of any kind of interest in good-faith negotiations before President Trump is going to be willing to reengage on this,” Ms Gabbard told “Fox News Sunday.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Mr Zelensky “berated and interrupted his host … instead of expressing gratitude for the extraordinary help that the US has provided his country (and that) effectively helped him stay alive and in power.”

Mr Trump, he said, “is the only figure on the entire globe who is powerful enough to bring both of these parties to the table, and he was in the process of doing that, and he was very, I think, excited about the deal that was going to be consummated. But President Zelensky went in and blew it up.”

At least one Republican lawmaker disagreed with that characterisation.

Oklahoma’s Republican Senator James Lankford, who has supported US aid to Ukraine in its battle against Russia, told Meet the Press that Mr Zelensky was “rightfully” seeking assurances that Washington would provide security if Mr Putin were to violate a peace agreement - as he has done in the past.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders said calls by some Republicans for Mr Zelensky to resign were “horrific.”

“Zelensky is leading a country, trying to defend democracy against an authoritarian dictator, Putin, who invaded his country,” he told NBC.

Sir Keir called the London summit before the White House meeting as a follow-up to two gatherings of European heads of state, who have struggled to respond to Mr Trump’s upending of long-entrenched security and trade norms.

The British leader continued his push to place London at the forefront of Europe’s response to the Trump upheavals. Sir Keir fast-tracked a surge in British defence spending Saturday and pledged troops as a main part of a potential future European security force in Ukraine. On Sunday, he called on other European governments to grow their militaries and to join a “coalition of the willing” in taking up the slack in Ukraine.

NATO head Mark Rutte expressed optimism that Europe’s breach with Trump could be healed.

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