On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sat in on the meetings with Mr. Putin at the American air base outside of Anchorage, disputed the idea that the Europeans were coming as a posse to protect Mr. Zelensky from a repeat of the February shouting match.

European leaders, as well as the Nato chief, joining Zelensky for talks with Trump in Washington makes it an extraordinarily high-level meeting. This reveals how high their concern is that the US president will help Vladimir Putin defeat Ukraine by backing his demands - such as no ceasefire before final settlement.

Trump will greet Zelensky the White House at 1pm local time (6pm BST) and the pair will then have a bilateral meeting beginning at 1.15pm (6.15pm). Following this, Trump will take part in a meeting with European leaders who have travelled to Washington to back Zelensky - this meeting is scheduled for 3pm local time (8pm BST).