There will be no red carpet to wait for Volodymr Zelensky to the White House but the bitter memory of the last time that set foot. On February 28, in the Oval Studio, the Ukrainian president was humiliated by Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance, made fun of by a journalist for clothing judged “not appropriate” to the occasion and hunted abruptly by the West Wing. “He returns when you are ready for peace,” the Donald had ordered him at the end of what all the world media defined a real ambush, with the number two of the American president who had even reproached to Zelensky to never have “thanked” the United States for the support received.
A dramatic clash, a deep break partly mended two months later in the face to face fifteen minutes in the nave of San Pietro, shortly before the beginning of the funeral of Pope Bergoglio. The image of that meeting, the two leaders sitting in front of the other and behind them all the majesty of the basilica, has also symbolically marked the beginning of a new phase in the relationship between Washington and Kiev. The two then saw themselves on the sidelines of the summit born in Holland, in June. “We had difficult moments, but it couldn’t be kinder,” he said after that meeting Trump. Now, Zelensky returns to the White House after the summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and the pressure of the Commander-in-Chiefs to accept an agreement. But this time, the Ukrainian leader will not be alone and above all in recent months he has prepared himself to face the Trump lions pit.
Among the European leaders who accompany him are, in fact, French president Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who provided him with a series of precise indications on how to contact the American president suggesting a less aggressive attitude and more explicit demonstrations of gratitude for the support of the United States. It is no coincidence that the Ukrainian leader hastened to thank Trump on X for the invitation. “I am very grateful,” were the words chosen by Zelensy in his post. And, despite the red carpet and the applause to the Tsar, the president of Ukraine will return to the Oval study, a place that Putin has not seen since 2005.