Zelenskyy invites Trump to visit Kyiv

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Zelenskyy speaks from presidential bunker on fourth anniversary of Russia-Ukraine war – video theguardian.com

The first lady and the president observe a minute’s silence during the ceremony in Kyiv. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images theguardian.com

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Iryna Kalinina was evacuated from a maternity hospital in Mariupol, southern Ukraine, in March 2022 following a Russian airstrike. Kalinina and her baby later died from their injuries. This image has become a symbol of the war. Evgeniy Maloletka / AP file nbcnews.com

Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian positions in an attempt to hold the front line near Bakhmut in November 2023.Kostya Liberov / Libkos via Getty Images nbcnews.com

Putin toasts servicemen awarded with Gold Star medals of "Hero of Russia" in Moscow on Monday.Mikhail Metzel / Pool / AFP via Getty Images nbcnews.com

Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Friday.Henry Nicholls / AFP via Getty Images nbcnews.com

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy used Ukraine’s invasion anniversary on Monday to renew a pointed invitation to Donald Trump: come to Kyiv and see the war up close. Speaking in an 18‑minute video that included newly released footage from the underground bunker on Bankova Street used in the first hours of the 2022 attack, Zelenskyy said a visit would make clear “who the aggressor is” and “who must be pressured,” according to The Guardian.

The appeal is less about ceremony than about timing. With U.S.-brokered talks dragging on and Washington repeatedly signalling impatience with an open-ended commitment, Kyiv is trying to reduce the room for an “abstract” settlement negotiated at distance. A presidential visit is a form of pre-commitment: it raises the domestic political cost in the United States of endorsing a deal that looks like a reward for territorial conquest, because it ties the American president’s public image to specific places, victims, and infrastructure damage.

NBC News reports that Zelenskyy’s public tone has become sharper as the war enters its fifth year and the “last mile” of negotiations remains stuck on core demands. Russia still holds roughly 20% of Ukraine’s territory, and Moscow continues to press for control of the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, despite Ukraine retaining parts of both. Kyiv’s red line is not rhetorical; Zelenskyy framed it as a refusal to “nullify” years of sacrifice, telling negotiators not to “devalue” what the country has endured.

The immediate stakes are military, but the second-order effects fall heavily on Europe. A U.S. preference for a rapid, face-saving deal shifts costs onto European states that sit closer to the front line: higher defence spending, higher energy risk premia, and a long-term security architecture built around deterrence rather than trade. Russia’s continuing strikes on power infrastructure—leaving millions without electricity during one of the coldest winters in years, according to The Guardian—also underline how quickly “ceasefire” and “normalisation” diverge if the underlying capacity to coerce remains intact.

Zelenskyy’s invitation also answers a recurring U.S. criticism. After a contentious Oval Office encounter last year, Vice President JD Vance accused Ukraine of staging “propaganda tours” for visiting dignitaries, a claim Kyiv denies, The Guardian notes. By inviting Trump personally, Zelenskyy is effectively proposing that the White House do its own due diligence—on the ground, in public, and on camera.

The anniversary video ends where the war began for Kyiv’s leadership: in the bunker under Bankova Street, a reminder that Ukraine’s negotiating position is still shaped by the first week’s assumption that the state might not survive.