Photos: Scenes from Ukraine on eve of Zelensky talks with Trump, European leaders

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is preparing to return to D.C. for talks with President Trump on ending Russia's war on his country, six months on from his infamous White House meeting — this time flanked by European leaders.The big picture: It's been 1,271 days since Moscow's forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and after Trump's talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, U.S. officials acknowledge a peace deal is unlikely to culminate from Monday's meeting. Meanwhile, fighting continues in war-ravaged Ukraine. The remains of stores in Bilozerske on Aug. 17 after a Russian air strike. Trump's positions after his meeting with Putin — that he no longer supports a ceasefire, and it's "up to President Zelensky" to make peace — appear highly unfavorable to Ukraine, per Axios' Barak Ravid. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images A Ukrainian soldier walks past bombed stores in Bilozerske on Aug. 17. The Russian bombardment of Ukraine has continued on multiple fronts, but the Ukrainian military has reported making small advances along part of the Sumy front in the country's north. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images A bombed residential building in Bilozerske on Aug. 17, as White House special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN Russia agreed to "robust security guarantees" during the Alaska summit. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images A resident is trapped in rubble in a basement in Bilozerske after a Russian airstrike on Aug. 17. U.S. and European officials "could effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee," Witkoff told CNN, referring to NATO's policy of responding if a member is attacked. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images Captured Russian Army soldiers on Aug. 17 after being taken prisoner by Ukraine's 82nd Air Assault Brigade, between Dobropillia and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces had recently made a six-mile breakthrough. Photo: Vlada Liberova/Libkos/Getty Images The remains of a Ukrainian military vehicle after being struck by an Russian drone on in Oleksandrivka, Donetsk, on Aug. 17, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels chaired a meeting with Zelensky and other European leaders ahead of their White House meeting. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images Residents shelter in the basement of a residential building amid Russian airstrikes in Bilozerske on Aug. 17. The European leaders are presenting themselves as a "coalition of the willing" ahead of the White House summit. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images A residential building burns after a Russian airstrike in Bilozerske on Aug. 17. French President Emmanuel Macron said he and the other European leaders "will present a united front" during the White House talks. "If we're not strong today, we'll pay dearly tomorrow," he said. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images A resident of Pokrovske, Dnipropetrovsk, east-Central Ukraine, after being evacuated to a designated safe point in Novodonetske, Donetsk, on Aug. 17. Russia "controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014," per Reuters. Ukraine Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images A resident tries to dig out a survivor trapped in rubble in a bombed basement in Bilozerske on Aug. 17. Zelensky said in an Aug. 17 statement that Putin has unsuccessfully spent trying to fully capture the Donetsk region. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images A cyclist passes a building destroyed in bombings by Russian invading forces in Bilozerske on Aug. 17. Zelensky noted in an Aug. 15 Telegram post that as he prepared for the U.S. summit: "The war continues. It continues precisely because there is no order, nor any indication that Moscow is preparing to end this war." Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images

Comments

World news

Independent

The family who made Kennedy Center medals at their kitchen countertop have been dropped by Trump as he eyes new Tiffany design

about 2 hours ago

The stakes are high - and the unity of the alliance against Putin has never been so threatened

Skynews

A fisherman spotted an old Buick in the Mississippi River. The human remains inside may have solved a decades-old missing person’s case

about 7 hours ago

What’s at stake when Zelensky meets Trump at the White House with Starmer and EU allies in tow

Independent

Top Trump envoy says Putin agreed to ‘game-changing’ security protections for Ukraine at Alaska summit with U.S. president

about 9 hours ago

Spain adds 500 more troops to battle wildfires as country bakes under extended heatwave

Independent

Comments

Similar News

Man caught at Walmart had hundreds of upskirt photos of different women on his phone, police say

Trump posted a photo of me sitting by my tent - then a bulldozer arrived

The Power of the Trump-Putin Presidential Photo Op

The Power of the Trump-Putin Presidential Photo Op

Kremlin releases photo of Donald Trump and Putin talking without US interpreter - again

The power of the Trump-Putin presidential photo op.

Piers Morgan quickly backtracks after ‘mistakenly’ posting photo of Trump wearing kneepads ahead of Putin summit

In photos: The Watts Uprising 60 years ago

First photos 'of Putin's youngest son, six-year-old Vladimir Junior' are revealed - as it's claimed his private tutors earn $36,000 a month

Haunting last photos of people seconds before animals mauled them to death

Calgary police release photos of suspect wanted for random assault at CTrain station

Photos: Scenes from D.C. as National Guard joins Trump's law enforcement crackdown

Photos: Scenes from Trump's takeover of D.C.

Hiker takes haunting photo of grizzly bears staring at him – moments later he's dead

PHOTO ESSAY: Migrants returning to Venezuela face debt and harsh living conditions

Photos: Historic flash floods hit Milwaukee as Midwest faces heavy rains threat

PHOTOS: Rainbow flags and politics on display at Montreal Pride parade

New voters list in Indian state includes wrong photos and dead people

Parents who share photos of kids on social media given identify theft warning

Early Beatles photos by Paul McCartney to go on show in London

World news

The family who made Kennedy Center medals at their kitchen countertop have been dropped by Trump as he eyes new Tiffany design

The stakes are high - and the unity of the alliance against Putin has never been so threatened

Washington talks could prove more vital for Ukraine's future than Trump-Putin summit

Health v heritage: Pigeon feeding ban sparks debate in India

Zelensky and allies head to White House for Ukraine talks

Trump’s critics say Putin ‘flattered’ Trump at the Alaska summit. Europe’s leaders aim to do the same

Marco Rubio confronted by news anchor over past opposition to ‘deal’ with Putin

'Tradwife', 'delulu' and 'skibidi' among new words added to dictionary

D.C. fights back against Trump's takeover — in court and on the streets