The seven European leaders who accompanied President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Monday made little secret of why they had suddenly interrupted their summer vacations to make the trip. They believed they might need to shield the Ukrainian leader from the disparagement and bullying he had to endure on his last Oval Office in February.

I’ll get it done,” the US president says ahead of peace talks with Ukraine’s president at 13:00 EST (18:00 BST).

The Ukrainian leader returned with a U.S. commitment to participate in security guarantees for Kyiv in a postwar settlement.

Trump, Zelensky to meet in Washington next week after US-Russia summit ends without agreement * Top European leaders to join Zelensky in Washington for Trump talks * Putin offers Trump frozen battle lines,

If anyone could convince him to change his look, it would be me,” said Viktor Anisimov, who was working to transform the Ukrainian president’s look even before it was questioned at a White House meeting.

“I love it,” President Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he arrived at the White House on Monday for a high-stakes meeting.

Ukrainian analysts watching their president’s return to the White House were braced for a “nightmare.” They took cautious encouragement from what they saw instead.