Zelensky knows he risks another White House ambush

The free world’s most celebrated president is showing some mettle in agreeing to a meeting with the leader of the free world. When Volodymyr Zelensky walks into the Oval Office on Monday, he knows he's risking another ambush.

- Sam Kiley, The Independent

The Ukrainian president is prepared to gamble that he'll get another White House schoolyard bullying session, because there's a slim chance that Donald Trump may finally have tired of being played by the Kremlin. It is now conceivable, just, that Trump is prepared to consider security guarantees for Ukraine that reflect Nato’s Article 5, which could mean that if Ukraine signed up to a peace deal then its long-term future sovereignty and security would be protected, by force of arms, by allies including the US. Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, spoke with Trump and went public with the idea (that had been hers in the first place) suggesting that the US president had bought into the concept. “The crucial point remains security guarantees to prevent new Russian invasions, and this is the aspect where the most interesting developments were recorded in Anchorage,” Meloni said.