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Soon: European Leaders Arrive For WH Meeting With Trump, Zelenskyy; Happening Now: European Leaders Arrive At White House. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 18, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash in Washington. And we are following breaking news. Take a look at live pictures of the White House. For any moment now, top European leaders will arrive for a pivotal meeting with President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The stakes could not be higher for Ukraine, more than three years after Russia's brutal invasion of that sovereign democracy. Russia is not letting up on the battlefield just the opposite. This morning, more than 10 people, including children were killed by Russian strikes in Kharkiv, adding to the war's devastating death toll, now counted in the tens of thousands of lives lost.

As of Friday morning, President Trump said, his goal was to end the bloodshed in Ukraine, but after rolling out the red carpet for Putin, the war's architect, Trump's priorities seem to have shifted. First President Trump abandoned his push for a ceasefire. His top foreign policy advisors claimed over the weekend that change was in the hopes of a larger peace agreement.

And last night, President Trump appeared to cave almost to the Kremlin playbook writing, quote, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight. Remember how it started, no getting back Obama given Crimea 12 years ago, without a shot being fired and not going into NATO by Ukraine. Some things never change.

This morning, the president unleashed a flurry of social media posts on today's meeting that involved and evolved to comments like this. I know exactly what I'm doing, and I don't need the advice of people who have been working on all of these conflicts for years and were never able to do a thing to stop them. They are, quote, stupid people with no common sense, intelligence or understanding, and the only -- they only make current R/U disaster more difficult to fix.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House. Kristen, we just put up as I was kind of setting the scene here pictures of a motorcade. We think that motorcade is among the first to be headed towards you at the White House. Tell us what you're seeing and, more importantly, what you're hearing from your sources about what to expect.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Dana. And just to be clear, you know, he's been posting a lot on Truth Social. A lot of this is about the media coverage, around his sit down with Putin, this idea that he went in with one thing, saying, there will be sanctions if Putin didn't agree to a ceasefire, and then came out, obviously there was no ceasefire.

And now there are -- have been a lot of commentary about how he handled that meeting, which he has not liked. So that's where he is, right there, talking about pundits that he's been watching on cable news nonstop.

Now, in terms of what we expect to see today, as you noted, right now, we are expecting those European leaders to arrive. Then at 1 pm, Donald Trump is going to greet the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Then at 1:15, there's going to be a bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy. This is not going to have other European leaders present at that time.

That's likely where we're going to hear from them. That's where we heard from them the last time the two men sat down in the Oval, which of course, we all remember, did not go well then, but their relationship has shifted. Then at 2:15, Trump is going to greet the European leaders, and then at 3:00, they are going to have a multilateral meeting here.

As you said, the stakes couldn't be higher, and it's likely to be an incredibly tough conversation all around. We know President Trump has briefed the European leaders, as well as Zelenskyy on his conversation with Putin, but this is an opportunity for them to dive even deeper. But what we've heard from Trump are things that Zelenskyy has already said he wouldn't do that. Trump saying that he believes that Ukraine is going to have to cede territory to Russia.

At one point, skipping all the ceasefire and going straight to a peace agreement. Zelenskyy has been adamant that there needs to be a ceasefire, for obvious reasons, as you just played. Russia continues to drop bombs across Ukraine and kill civilians. So, there's going to be some tough aspects of this conversation when the two men sit down.

The thing we're watching closely is the tone and tenor of Donald Trump. And the reason being, Donald Trump wants two big things here. He wants a trilateral meeting that includes Putin, Zelenskyy on hand. He also wants, eventually, an end to the war in Ukraine.

So, the question is whether or not, President Trump starts to see Zelenskyy as some kind of obstacle to peace now that he's had this meeting with Putin. Remember, that is what he was essentially saying back in February when this meeting got contentious. He was saying, you're not grateful. You don't want to make a deal.

Now he has shifted in their relationship. However, if he starts again to think that this might be something that is blocking him from getting the deal he wants, that narrative and that tone might shift.

[12:05:00]

BASH: All right, Kristen, thank you so much. And appreciate that. And right, probably just a couple of feet from where you see Kristen standing on the screen. You see the official protocols prepared for the color guard et cetera, prepared for European leaders to start arriving.

And we're going to continue to monitor that as we talk to our terrific group of reporters here. They are, CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Jasmine Wright of NOTUS, CNN's former Moscow Bureau Chief, Jill Dougherty, and she's also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, among many other things, and Vivian Salama of the Atlantic. Hello, everybody. What a day to be here.

Jill, I want to start with you. You know, I think, I think maybe you were -- I'm not sure if you were at the White House for CNN or you were in Moscow -- you know, explorer Moscow, when I started here many, many years ago. But you have so much experience on all sides of this from a reporting vantage point. Given that, what are you looking for as this day starts?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, this is a very different White House --

(CROSSTALK)

DOUGHERTY: No, I don't know. By the end of the day, what we will have. But I think, you know, we need to know Zelenskyy comes in, and this time, he's got his team with him from Europe.

BASH: Yeah.

DOUGHERTY: So, I think the most important thing -- one of the most important things, I think, will be these security guarantees, like, if Ukraine can be secure in the fact that they will have their back protected by the Europeans and the Americans, and that they cannot be invaded by Vladimir Putin again. Then some of these territorial issues, and I hate to call them that, because I think they're a lot more than territory. But that said, the territorial issues might be easier if you know that it -- that Putin will not go further -- farther than he already has.

BASH: And so, security guarantees. I mean, that is really one of the key questions here. That is something that Steve Witkoff, who is the president's chief negotiator on many, many things, told Jake Tapper over the weekend -- talked to Jake Tapper about over the weekend. Security guarantees, obviously short of admission to NATO. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, SPECIAL ENVOY: We were able to win the following concession that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which would -- which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO. We sort of were able to bypass that and get an agreement that the -- that the United States could offer Article 5 protection, which was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, what he's talking about Article 5 protection is NATO obviously, an attack against one is an attack against all, the time it was invoked, of course, after 9/11. So, NATO like protections, but not NATO overall security. And there is a difference there. I think that's an important difference there, just in terms of the actual duration and reliability of the security challenge.

But that said, this is something that it's extraordinary. We use that word a decent amount, but in this case, we've never seen so many European leaders, world leaders, really change plans on a dime over the weekend to come to the White House to have the back of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Many European leaders and officials were appalled by what they saw in Alaska, quite frightened by where this was going, so they wanted to sort of have his back here. But we do know the president is going to meet one-on-one with President Zelenskyy, and then in a larger group.

So, how this unfolds is uncertain, but the last word with President Trump is often important, so that's why many of these allies, and he actually has a pretty good relationship. I'm thinking of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He was just with President Trump just a few weeks ago at his golf course in Scotland.

He took out time to go there and meet him, as did Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the E.U. So, there are good relationships among some of these leaders with the president, and that is what they are relying on to sort of bring President Trump back a little bit from his embrace of Putin on Friday.

BASH: I was reading somewhere this morning that to your point about, the sort of rapid way these European leaders with a lot on their plate got together, got on planes and came here to the U.S., you know, in an instant, is the only thing that comes close to that kind of quick action was in the lead up to the war against Iraq, when George W. Bush was in the White House. Obviously, very different circumstances, but it gives you a sense of the stakes here for not just Ukraine, but for its neighbors in Europe.

VIVIAN SALAMA, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Yeah, Dana. The way that the meeting came together was pretty unprecedented, just the short notice with these European leaders coming here. And there are a couple of theories as to why it could have happened. On one hand, the Trump administration says yes, we are so close to having a breakthrough for the first time here, getting a peace deal negotiated that everybody might feel optimistic.

[12:10:00]

On the other hand, of course, none of us are -- all of us are old enough to remember the White House Oval Office meeting in February where Zelenskyy came and was largely embarrassed by the Trump administration, by President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in this very public way.

And so, the European leaders possibly coming as a bit of a security blanket, so that they could come. A, just reinforce the Zelenskyy's message, but also try to prevent Trump from pushing him into a deal that would ultimately be a losing deal for Ukraine.

BASH: And we just saw a motorcade heading towards the White House. We're going to continue to watch as that motorcade actually makes its way through the White House gates. We believe that is the Prime Minister of the U.K. Keir Starmer, who has -- as you were saying, Jeff, is maybe one of the president's -- at this point, maybe most trusted allies in Europe, for lots of reasons. And it's really noteworthy that he is going to be among the European leaders who will be there with President Trump and President Zelenskyy?

JASMINE WRIGHT, POLITICS REPORTER, NOTUS: Yeah. I think it's incredibly noteworthy. Obviously, also the Italian leader will be there. Trump has a very good relationship with her, not so much with Emmanuel Macron. He's had some recent criticism for him. But I think when you talk to White House officials, one thing that they'll point out is that this is not February for President Trump.

And they note just how far the relationship between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy has come since then, because of all of those meetings that they have had, obviously, meeting multiple times in Europe, having multiple more phone calls. Meeting so many times that they felt it was at -- then the point that they should meet with Putin because they had already had so many conversations with President Zelenskyy.

Certainly, though there, he is kind of coming into unknown territory. I think when you look at some of those two socials, they could be a little bit frightening for the European allies, who at one point believed, at least going into the Alaska meeting, that they were kind of all on the same accord.

Both European allies and the White House tried to make a really big point of saying that we were all on the same page. We know what we're going in to this meeting, all wanting, and then Donald Trump kind of came out of that and went left and seemed to be at least taking some of Putin's points.

So, I think that Zelenskyy is going to come in there, not necessarily blind, because of all the conversations they've had are happening, but potentially trying to assess the situation. Now, I think that you've seen over the last few months that Zelenskyy has figured out a way to handle Donald Trump. Obviously, there's been a lot of talk about whether or not he's going to be wearing a suit. I don't expect that we will see him in a suit. Maybe we'll see him in some --

(CROSSTALK)

SALAMA: I actually have a source that says he's in a fashionable no tie suit.

BASH: There you go. Well, listen, we love no ties --

SALAMA: No, he is wearing a suit.

WRIGHT: But so, he's trying to figure out a way to deal with Donald Trump, while ultimately getting those security agreements for his country and trying to move this ball forward.

BASH: I just want to go back to one of the things that you said, Jill, about the territories and whether or not, some of them will be given back to Russia or kept in Russian -- Russia's hands. And I love the way that you said. It sounds like, it's just like a nothing piece of land when you say territory, but it has obviously so much more meaning to Ukraine, and obviously, to Vladimir Putin.

Let's just put up a map of what we're talking about as we wait for -- it looks like Keir Starmer's motorcade about to go through the White House gates. Nope, that was Italy.

WRIGHT: It's Italian.

BASH: That was the Italian. Thank you. You're much, much better vision than I. That was an Italian flag. That's Giorgia Meloni. We believe about to go through the gates. As we look at that, I actually just want to keep our eye on the motorcade, so let's hold off on actually showing the map for a bit.

Jill, talk a little bit more about the sort of mindset of Zelenskyy going into this meeting, the European leaders going into this, particularly given the fact that everybody sort of stood mouths agape watching what was happening in Alaska on Friday.

DOUGHERTY: Well, I mean, Zelenskyy is caught between two really difficult decisions. If he, for domestic consumption in Ukraine as a political -- if he says, OK, we're going to give some territory to Russia, that is politically very bad for him. And I think the Russians would be thrilled if he were in political distress. And so, this is, you know, Vladimir Putin, I'm sure is just happy to make it as difficult for Zelenskyy as possible.

Then if he doesn't go along, then he just --

BASH: Jill, forgive me for interrupting. That is the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, arriving there at the White House. The first person we've seen actually go in. You can talk -- actually, he -- talk about somebody with a relationship, and somebody who has worked very hard to have a relationship with Donald Trump.

[12:15:00]

ZELENY: For sure, and he, you know, sort of ingratiated himself to the president when he was going to a NATO just about six weeks or so ago, and sort of praising the president. But also, president's relationship with the NATO is actually quite different than it is his first term. He takes credit for other countries, you know, spending more of their defense budget --

BASH: And Rutte gave him credit.

ZELENY: Exactly, Rutte gave him credit. But this is actually interesting. We are watching on the South Lawn of the White House, so right here. And all the leaders will be coming in. But again, Zelenskyy will be coming separately. So, this meeting is still about Zelenskyy, but the other leaders are his backup, I guess, if you will. But there's going to be a family photo taken, possibly a lunch later as well. But again, for all the other leaders who were watching come to the White House, as Zelenskyy is scheduled to come around one o'clock eastern time on his own.

SALAMA: Dana, you know, one of the things that Jill and I were actually just discussing this before the show is that a lot of Europeans -- a lot of the European leaders, especially in Western Europe, they also want a swift end to this war. Everybody does, in some way.

But the Europeans, and especially in the west, they've come under political pressure, just as there's been political pressure here in the United States. They have come under political pressure to end this war and to stop continuing to funnel weapons and aid to Ukraine. They also just have domestic concerns that they want to wrap up.

So, this has been something that politically but also from a national security perspective. They're very eager to see an end to this war, but they want to see it ended the right way, because obviously, their security hinges on that.

BASH: That's the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arriving now. See her walking in. Interesting that the -- it's Monica Crowley there, greeting the European leaders.

ZELENY: Is she is the head of Protocol?

BASH: Head of Protocol, and not the president. What is that tell you?

ZELENY: The president will be meeting and greeting President Zelenskyy, I'm told. I mean, this is again the principal meeting, but the head of Protocol, Monica Crowley, is meeting with them. And we should point out, most of these leaders, with the, I think, the exception of the Finnish president, have all been to the White House for their own one-on-one meetings with the president earlier this year, some as recently as this summer.

SALAMA: And yet, the Finnish president has also cultivated this very unique relationship.

ZELENY: They played golf.

SALAMA: Yes. They've been playing golf and doing their thing.

BASH: And Finland is -- we haven't seen him arrive yet, when we will, noteworthy that the Russian attack on Ukraine changed the stance of families --

DOUGHERTY: Right. As they're members of -- BASH: Now they're members of NATO, and they always wanted to be decidedly neutral, because they're right up against Russia. And they -- and they decided, you know what, we do want to be members of NATO because we don't want to end up like Ukraine.

DOUGHERTY: Exactly, and that is one of the things. It's not -- they're not here only for Zelenskyy, although that's 90 percent. They're here for themselves, because they feel if Ukraine is not settled properly, you know, you can't just do it like that. So, if it's not settled properly, you will continue to have a war raging in Europe, and they will be involved one way or the other. So, I think it's in their interest, obviously, to come here and try to convince the president that it should be done properly, and not just quickly.

WRIGHT: But also, if it's not settled properly. There is also fear among European allies that what is to stop Putin from going beyond Ukrainian borders, right? So, it's not just an interest of its political or even economical issues that these countries are having, but it's also just their sovereignty.

BASH: As we're in a little bit of a lull waiting for another car to pull up. I do want to go back to the territories and the map. If we can put the map up, just to give people a sense of what the conversation is sort of circling around with regard to what Putin wants, and what Donald Trump is suggesting may be possible, and what Volodymyr Zelenskyy is saying absolutely yes or no to.

Do we have that map? If we can put it up. And then, we can talk about it with Jill. There we go. If you can see it there, on the -- on your screen. So, it's -- right here you see the areas Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Those are the areas that -- forgive me, hang on. Hold that thought. I want you to get in there on this. And this is Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the U.K.

[12:20:00]

OK, so as they continue to come in this very August group of leaders from Europe. Again, go back to the map, because this is -- there's no doubt this is going to be a big part of the discussion with European leaders. And also, of course, with the president of this country, who's being asked to give up territory that they've spent three years fighting to keep.

DOUGHERTY: Right. And you could say not just three years. I mean, this began, you know, Crimea began in 2014, so we're going back quite a long time. And so, I thought it was interesting that President Trump mentioned Crimea in his tweet last night. Now, Crimea might be the most defined area that you can talk about. It's been in Russian hands since 2014.

BASH: Let's put the map back up. Go ahead, go ahead. I just want them to put the map up while you talk, so we get a better sense.

DOUGHERTY: Sure. So, that's when the Russian hands and the president even said, let's look at how the war began and not a shot was fired. Well, I think if you check the political -- the historical record, it would be that actually very few shots were fired. But the plebiscite, you know, voting to become part of Russia, was carried out at the point of a gun. So, but this is -- so this is a territory that Russia took illegally.

That said, that's kind of, I would say, the easy part. The harder part would be Donbas.

BASH: Yes.

DOUGHERTY: And these -- which is the industrial heartland, very, very important for the -- for the protection of Ukraine going forward.

WRIGHT: And you can't overstate how complicated it is, because so many -- you know, I spent much of 2022 in these regions, these embattled regions, and a lot of these people feel culturally close to Russian culture, but they feel nationalistically like they have allegiance to Ukraine.

BASH: We're going to sneak in a quick break as we wait for other European leaders to arrive at the White House. We'll also hear from a member of Ukraine's parliament on what this summit means for her country's survival. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back. Look at the White House. That's just moments ago, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived there. The question as we await for these meetings to begin is, what actually will President Trump agree to? What will he push the Ukrainian president to do? What will the European leaders say to President Trump?

And what is it all going to mean back home in Ukraine as these negotiations get underway, particularly when it comes to what we were talking about before the break, the push to give territory away? Is that even politically possible for Volodymyr Zelenskyy?

Well, to help us understand these stakes, very high stakes, I'm joined by Halyna Yanchenko. She is a member of Ukraine's parliament. Thank you so much for being here. You are actually on the street in Kyiv. Before I get to the political questions. Tell me what's it like right now there in the capital city?

HALYNA YANCHENKO, MEMBER, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Yeah. Just five minutes ago, air alarm has started. It's a very loud and annoying noise, basically, and it feels like, you know, negotiations are taking place. I'm being sarcastic here because actually this is absolutely clear for us, that negotiations with Putin, when he continues shelling civilian cities and residential neighborhoods, seems to be pretty senseless.

Moreover, I should tell you that we believe that Putin's demands, like trading land, are deliberately impossible. So, he is not even going to have any negotiations. He intentionally put these impossible demands to actually stop any kind of agreement.

BASH: Can you explain that, deliberately impossible before you go on? Explain what that means for people who don't understand.

YANCHENKO: So, I will give you analytical assessment, and then my emotional assessment as a Ukrainian, as mother of two children, and you know, just a human being. So, over the past three years, Putin has spent or wasted three years, 1 million Russian soldiers to occupy 1 percent of Ukrainian territories. And now he wants Ukraine to give away voluntarily more land than he occupied over the past three years. This is senseless. This is insane. But emotionally, I should like, bring some, you know, human perspective here.

What we are talking about trading lands. We are not talking about, you know, some kind of desert or just square kilometers. We are talking about cities and villages inhabited by real living people. So, we are saying that Ukraine should voluntarily give away these cities and villages to the occupants.