Ukraine and allies left scrambling as Trump shifts toward Putin after Alaska summit

LONDON — Ukraine and its allies were scrambling Sunday to respond to President Donald Trump’s apparent shift toward Vladimir Putin’s hardline position after their summit in Alaska.

European leaders announced that they would join Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Monday as they seek to navigate America’s new approach to ending the war.

Trump signaled Saturday that he was reversing his insistence on a ceasefire and instead pursuing a permanent peace deal — aligning the United States with the Kremlin rather than Kyiv and its European backers.

As Ukraine and Europe work out how best to move forward, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von de Leyen, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that they would be joining Zelenskyy, perhaps hoping to ensure there is no repeat of his last Oval Office meeting.

“The trip will serve as an exchange of information” with Trump, Merz’ office said. “The talks will address, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues, and continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression.”

The news came ahead of a virtual meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” which includes more than 30 countries working together to support Ukraine.

While Trump’s reversal on pursuing a ceasefire before fuller peace talks fueled alarm on the continent, he did appear to have taken a step toward another position more aligned with the wishes of Ukraine and Europe.

Trump directly engaged with Zelenskyy and European leaders by phone early Saturday morning about the U.S. taking part in a potential NATO-like security guarantee for Ukraine as part of a deal with Russia, two senior administration officials and three sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

“European and American security guarantees were discussed,” one source familiar with the discussions said. “U.S. troops on the ground was not discussed or entertained by [Trump].”

The security guarantees would be made in the scenario that Russia were to invade Ukraine, again, after a would-be peace deal, the sources said. The sources said that those protections, as discussed by the White House, would not include NATO membership — despite European leaders saying in a joint statement Saturday that Ukraine should be given the right to seek NATO membership.

But it was clear that the summit had left Ukraine feeling uneasy.

Zelenskyy warned that the Russian leader was complicating efforts to end the war by refusing to halt the brutal fighting before holding further talks.

“Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X late Saturday.

For civilians on the ground, still under Russian attack even as the diplomatic maneuvering played out, it was not just the substance but the optics of the Alaska talks that caused frustration.

“I was hoping that the U.S. wouldn’t roll out the red carpet to the enemy,” Kyiv resident Natalya Lypei said Saturday. “How can you welcome a tyrant like this?”