President Donald Trump is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with a number of European leaders, in Washington D.C. later on Monday.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "can end the war with Russia almost immediately" while dismissing the idea of Ukraine joining NATO and returning the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula as unrealistic.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy finds himself in an impossible bind: risk Donald Trump’s wrath or accept a quick deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine by paying the disastrous price of ceding territory for vague security guarantees that could see Moscow come back stronger in a few years’ time.