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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev taunted European leaders early Tuesday, accusing them of failing “to outplay” U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
“The anti-Russian warmongering Coalition of the Willing failed to outplay @POTUS on his turf,” Medvedev wrote on X, in English.
The “Coalition of the Willing” refers to a group of European leaders who formed a pact to support a peace deal in Ukraine. Those leaders at Monday’s meeting included French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were also in attendance.
ZELENSKYY HEADS INTO CRUCIAL TRUMP MEETING AS US WEIGHS SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR KYIV
Russia’s Security Council’s Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev attends a meeting of the Council for Science and Education at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the Moscow region’s city of Dubna, Russia June 13, 2024. (Sputnik/Alexei Maishev/Pool via REUTERS)
Medvedev alleged that these leaders supposedly “thanked” and “sucked up” to President Trump.
The questioning remaining now, Medvedev said, was “which tune” Zelenskyy – whom he mockingly referred to as “the Kiev clown” – “will play about guarantees and territories back home, once he’s put on his green military uniform again.”
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 18: U.S. President Donald Trump hosts a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron (L) at the White House on August 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Monday’s meeting came after Trump’s historic summit with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska last Friday. After the White House meeting, Trump said he had spoken with Putin to begin coordinating next steps in the peace process aimed at ending the years-long war in Ukraine.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had called his Russian counterpart to begin “the arrangements for a meeting” with Zelenskyy. That would then be followed by a trilateral meeting between the two warring presidents and the United States.
EUROPEAN LEADERS WILL JOIN TRUMP-ZELENSKYY MEETING, SIGNALING SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE
The Republican president also affirmed that the U.S. would back European security guarantees aimed at preventing Moscow from reinvading Ukraine once the war ends.
President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Trump was caught on a hot mic earlier in the day telling Macron that Putin wanted to find a resolution to bring an end to the war, though a Russian official later tempered those remarks.
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Russian state media, citing Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, said Putin had spoken “in favor” of continuing direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
Fox News’ Alec Schemmel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
