Just after noon, European leaders including Macron, Starmer, von der Leyen, Rutte, and Meloni began arriving one by one at the White House. According to the White House schedule, Trump will first meet with Zelensky at 1:15 p.m. before greeting the European leaders, followed by a multilateral meeting with all parties at 3:00 p.m.

Speculation is rising over a possible Zelensky–Putin showdown in Turkey, after reports that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached out directly to the Kremlin while appearing to sideline Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Kremlin hasn't ruled out summits but has said they could only meet in the very final stages of clinching a peace agreement.

President Trump seeks to broker a meeting of the two leaders to end Europe’s most destructive war in generations.

A summit in Paris six years ago was the first and only time the two presidents ever met, flanked by French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s then-chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, Putin and Zelensky were looking to hash out a ceasefire deal for war in Donbas in Ukraine’s east, where Russia-backed forces were fighting Ukrainian troops.

Zelensky talks puts Kremlin in a bind: accept and legitimise Kyiv’s leader or refuse and face fresh US sanctions. Read here

The Kremlin is keeping its options open, but analysts said the Russian leader would probably only meet with his Ukrainian counterpart to accept a capitulation.