European Leaders Present United Front, and a Little Flattery, at Crucial White House Meeting

“I think, if we play this well, we could end this,” Mark Rutte, secretary general of NATO said.

European leaders line up for a photo with President Donald Trump
Aaron Schwartz/AP

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine arrived at the White House on Monday in a very different place than he was six months ago.

Instead of meeting a U.S. counterpart averse to the idea of helping Ukraine, he encountered one on the brink of agreeing to major security guarantees. Instead of going at it in the Oval Office alone, the wartime president was backed up by a delegation of European leaders all intent on ending the country’s war with Russia. And instead of wearing his normal military button up, he came armed with an accessory meant to please an audience of one: a black suit.

“I love it,” President Donald Trump said, gesturing to Zelenskyy’s all-black outfit when he arrived at the north entrance of the West Wing.