Zelenskyy arrives in Washington

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that he has arrived in Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Zelenskyy thanked Trump for the invitation and stressed that the goal of Ukraine and its partners is to end the war "quickly and reliably", with a peace that must be lasting.

He also mentioned the mistakes of past years, when Ukraine "was forced to give up Crimea and part of our east – part of Donbas", and that the "security guarantees" of 1994 did not work.

"We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably. And peace must be lasting. Not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East – part of Donbas – and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack. Or when Ukraine was given so-called 'security guarantees' in 1994, but they didn't work," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Zelenskyy noted that Crimea should not have been given up then, just as after 2022 Ukrainians did not give up Kyiv, Odesa or Kharkiv.

"Russia must end this war, which it itself started," he added.

The meeting at the White House will take place on 18 August with the participation of Zelenskyy and European partners.

On 17 August, the Coalition of the Willing confirmed its readiness to deploy security forces in Ukraine immediately after the end of hostilities, to help secure Ukraine's air and maritime space and to regenerate the Armed Forces of Ukraine.