Joe Inwood

If President Zelensky is seen by the US administration, by Donald Trump, as being in some way opposed to peace, opposed to a deal, well, he risks incurring his wrath.

And we've seen what happens when you get Donald Trump coming at President Zelensky.

People remember the White House confrontation.

It was not pretty, and it actually had real consequences for Ukraine on the battlefield.

Yeah, it's really interesting you say that.

It's notable now, whenever you see any statement from a European leader, they go out of their way to praise Donald Trump, even when it doesn't seem necessarily appropriate at that time.

They are very, very keen to emphasise to the White House that they appreciate what he is doing in order to find peace.

And there really clearly are efforts being made.

In terms of the meeting on Monday between Friedrich Merz of Germany, Emmanuel Macron of France and Sakhir Starmer of the UK, along with President Zelenskyy,

I think they're going to be talking about a few things.

Most importantly, these talks that are going on because the Europeans have been sidelined to some extent over recent weeks by the Americans and by the Russians.

And they're keen to reinsert themselves into that conversation, although quite how they do that is difficult to see.

More than that, though, they're going to be.

trying to demonstrate to all audiences, whether they're in Moscow or Washington or Kiev, that they still back President Zelensky.

I mean, President Zelensky has had a very, very difficult few weeks, not just on the battlefield, not just in terms of missile strikes, but also in terms of these corruption allegations, really, that have gone to the heart of his administration.

And I think this is going to be a much-needed boost, an arm around his shoulder, which is a strategy we've seen the Europeans use many times in the past, and I think they'll be doing that again this Monday.