European leaders, as well as the Nato chief, joining Zelensky for talks with Trump in Washington makes it an extraordinarily high-level meeting. This reveals how high their concern is that the US president will help Vladimir Putin defeat Ukraine by backing his demands - such as no ceasefire before final settlement.

After meeting Vladimir Putin on Friday, President Donald Trump now has to win over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his European allies if his efforts to broker peace have any chance of success.