The Long Exit
Authoritarian systems rarely collapse in the dramatic fashion imagined by outsiders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Saturday that he will visit Washington on Monday to meet US President Donald Trump and discuss ways to “end the killing and the war.”
Zelensky said the decision followed a detailed phone call with Trump, who briefed him on the main points of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. That meeting ended without a ceasefire or breakthrough to halt Russia’s three-year-long invasion of Ukraine.
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Posting on X, Zelensky wrote: “On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, D.C., to discuss all the details regarding ending the killing and the war. I am grateful for the invitation.” He described his talk with Trump as “long and substantive,” starting one-on-one before European leaders joined in.
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According to the White House, Trump held the call while flying back from Alaska. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen later joined the discussion.
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, but the talks yielded no results.
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