Saudi Arabia’s ‘vision and generosity are very well-suited’ to WHO’s work on global health issues, says WHO Foundation CEO

1 / 2
Specialist surgeons work to separate conjoined twins at a hospital in Riyadh on May 15, 2022. (KSrelief handout picture))
Short Url
Updated 27 March 2023
Follow

Saudi Arabia’s ‘vision and generosity are very well-suited’ to WHO’s work on global health issues, says WHO Foundation CEO

  • Anil Soni says Middle East’s humanitarian and health crises need both ‘immediate assistance and long-term solutions’
  • Praises aid agency KSrelief’s ‘incredible model’ and Saudi Vision 2030’s focus on nonprofit efforts and philanthropy

LONDON: The WHO Foundation was set up in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to marshal new resources from philanthropists, foundations, businesses, and individuals to support the World Health Organization’s mission. 

Both WHO, which is a specialized agency of the UN, and the WHO Foundation are based in Geneva but the latter is a non-profit, grant-making body that is legally independent from WHO.

Anil Soni joined as CEO with a 20-year track record of improving healthcare in poorer countries and a goal to raise $1 billion. He told Arab News, in a written interview, how his foundation supports and complements WHO’s efforts while respecting its intergovernmental nature.




WHO Foundation CEO Anil Soni. (Supplied)

Arab News: Can you describe how the WHO Foundation arranges support from donors and how the money is spent by WHO?

Anil Soni: The WHO Foundation’s purpose is to be a bridge between the lifesaving and vital work of WHO and the various communities that can help power that work through their engagement, partnership and of course, generosity.

We are raising resources from multiple partners from the private sector and beyond to help WHO deliver lifesaving medicines and supplies to people in need.

World challenges such as the Turkiye-Syria earthquakes, the food crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa and the conflict in Ukraine are great examples of where we are facing crises that affect all of us and have to come together.

Such adversities cannot be tackled by any single sector alone. WHO is part of several international organizations of the United Nations, but the UN and the governments are not enough. We have to make sure we are collaborating with individuals and businesses too. 




Photo taken on June 10, 2012 shows Dr. Omar Saleh [2-L], the emergency coordinator for WHO in Somalia, attending to a young patient at a hospital in the Hudur region. (AFP file)

All contributions matter, even small ones, as these add up to enabling life-changing initiatives. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we had a campaign called “Go Give One.” Five dollars bought a vaccine, the same amount of money that could go into buying a cup of coffee. Businesses and philanthropists were donating millions of dollars, and that’s important, but every single contribution counts.

In terms of how we mobilize the money, we do it in several ways. We are brokering catalytic, transformative ways of engaging with philanthropists and businesses looking for opportunities to contribute to change and be part of the solution.

In the case of the earthquakes that affected millions and led to more than 50,000 life losses (the biggest death toll in over a decade since the Haiti earthquake), WHO continues to procure and quickly deliver lifesaving tools in Turkiye and Syria.

One of our closest partners is Spotify. Spotify created an opportunity for its listeners to contribute to the relief efforts in Turkiye and Syria by helping direct individuals (Spotify users) to our donation webpage.

Each donation directly supports relief efforts for those affected, including mental health services, physical rehabilitation, medicines, and other tools or commodities needed to reduce the risk or respond to communicable diseases from poor access to hygiene, clean water, and health services.

Q: Aid agencies have been criticized over the perception of unfair aid distribution and assistance in earthquake-hit areas, particularly in relation to Syria and its different areas of control. How can aid in this complicated context be made more equitable? 

A: Often, people at risk and in need are in environments that are the subject of intense political debate or literally in the crossfire of conflict. This is one of the reasons why WHO’s work is so important, as it operates everywhere. It is a UN agency that is itself a collaboration between member states. Hence, all the world’s governments participate in the operations and governance of WHO.

INNUMBERS

501,000 People who died from tuberculosis in Africa in 2021.

43,000 Excess deaths caused by hunger and poor health in Somalia in 2022.

57,300 Deaths in Turkiye and Syria caused by Feb. 6 earthquakes.

Furthermore, WHO’s emergency teams are in all regions of the world, so they continue to operate in Syria through years of conflict and are one of the few that have done so. It is crucial not to be biased against people’s needs because of the nature of a political situation or conflict. Quite the opposite, this is about healthcare, delivering medical services, and doctors whose job is not to deal with politics but to ensure people in need receive adequate healthcare.

I was really inspired by Dr. Tedros (Adhanom Ghebreyesus), the head of WHO, who visited Syria last month. He was the first UN principal to enter northwest Syria in over a decade because of the conflict. In the first hours after the earthquakes, WHO distributed 183 metric tons of supplies to more than 200 health facilities inside northwest Syria from partner warehouses in Azaz and Idlib.




World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (C) visits a shelter for people displaced by the disaster in Kafr Lusin near the Turkish border on March 1, 2023, during his first ever visit to rebel-held areas of war-ravaged Syria. (AFP)

Following this, WHO delivered 297 metric tons of emergency supplies and essential medicines to earthquake-affected areas of the country, allowing 3,705,000 treatments, including ones for trauma management, diabetes, and pneumonia.

Q: What are the main healthcare challenges facing the Middle East and North Africa region? How can mobilizing additional funding for WHO address these challenges? Can this go beyond monetary assistance to address the structural issues behind health inequality?

A: That’s the aspiration because otherwise, we will continue to face these emergencies and inequitable needs. The MENA region is striking at the moment because it is home to a number of simultaneous humanitarian and health crises that need both immediate assistance and long-term solutions.

Events such as the earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria, the conflict in Syria and the cholera outbreaks in Lebanon and Syria are acute and products of climate change or long-term dynamics that require sustained response and commitment.

The region now more than ever is uniquely positioned to support with its burgeoning economic prosperity among residents and the public and private sectors. It is vital to raise the necessary resources and awareness of how every single contribution plays a huge role in tackling humanitarian crises, which is what we do at the WHO Foundation.




A Syrian medic administers COVID-19 vaccine provided by the WHO and UNICEF to people in Syria's northeastern city of Qamishli on May 24, 2021. (AFP)

But equally important is the need to address the structural issues and the systemic reasons behind inequalities and fully leverage the resources of some of our partners. For example, we’re not just looking to our partners as a source of capital. We are also looking into how they can help us mobilize humanitarian efforts through their platform, talent, ability and own supplies.

I mentioned Spotify earlier. They helped us engage millions of listeners to gather resources to build up local health systems and become better prepared for emergency response.

So, part of what we’re trying to do in terms of raising those resources and brokering these partnerships is not just responding in the moment of an emergency but also ensuring that the underlying health systems are being built up, that there are community healthcare workers and adequate supplies.

We think about long-term financing and building systems strong enough to allow us to be agile in our response to an emergency or even help predict future crises (that is, potential disease outbreaks).

Q: How is the WHO Foundation helping to improve global preparedness? Does this apply merely to COVID-19 and readiness for future pandemics or does it include other emerging health threats (environmental, nutritional, etc.)? How can states like Saudi Arabia prepare?

A: WHO and the WHO Foundation work collaboratively and proactively to improve preparedness. For example, we are setting up emergency hubs in Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa to bolster health security across the African continent. This helps ensure lifesaving medical supplies and equipment are shipped within 24-48 hours of the declaration of an emergency, reducing deployment time by up to 60 days.




WHO Foundation CEO Anil Soni in Kenya. (Supplied). 

These regional emergency hubs work closely and cooperatively with governments for a joint emergency response, prepositioning of medical supplies and equipment, training facilities, and infectious diseases monitoring. But these emergency hubs are not limited to tending to diseases. They also help boost living quality, such as ensuring a continued supply of clean water to avoid risks of waterborne diseases like cholera.

WHO is always looking ahead, whether that’s analyzing trends in climate change or forecasting geopolitical outcomes, to anticipate better where our support will be most needed. We also work with governments and health leaders to help them navigate health crises their nation may have yet to experience.

Regarding Saudi Arabia, the vision and generosity of the Kingdom and its close collaboration with businesses and its people are very well-suited to this. As I understand it, particularly in the context of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is addressing how it can ensure that they recognize the interconnectedness between our well-being, the well-being of others, and the well-being of our neighbors. There’s a term in South Africa called “Ubuntu,” which means “I am because you are.”

It essentially recognizes interconnectedness and that the only way I will prosper is if I’m making sure that I’m being thoughtful about your needs because we depend on each other. I think this resonates with Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in the region and that supporting countries and communities inside and outside the Kingdom’s borders is essential to the welfare of the people in Saudi Arabia itself. 

Q: What is your opinion of Saudi Vision 2030’s Health Sector Transformation Program? Do you believe its focus on equitable and accessible health care coincides with the WHO Foundation’s own mission and values?

A: Similarly to Saudi Arabia’s Health Sector Transformation Program, the WHO Foundation believes in equitable and accessible healthcare. To speak more broadly in terms of the Vision 2030, there’s also a focus on nonprofit efforts and a culture of strategic philanthropy.




Infographic courtesy of Saudi Arabia's Vision2030 site

Even though there’s the government’s leadership, the rest of the nation is encouraged to contribute, including businesses and individuals, to addressing national challenges and fostering development. This idea of everyone playing a role in achieving goals is consistent with our mission at the WHO Foundation. 

We’ve had to react to so much these last years, such as a pandemic that much of the world didn’t predict, the effects of climate change even though it’s been brewing over time, and natural disasters that have periodicity and history.

If we look back, earthquakes and tsunamis have caused so much damage over the decades, and the question is, are we preparing for such catastrophic events? If all we’re doing is reacting and not preparing, the effects will be greater, and the loss will be unnecessary.

I say all of that because, when a government like Saudi Arabia works backward all the way from 2030, proactively and not just reactively, it sets an important lesson for all of us and demonstrates how much progress we could make by simply being prepared.




Displaced Yemenis receive medical treatment at a health clinic run by Saudi Arabia's KSrelief in Yemen's war-ravaged western province of Hodeida, on February 24, 2021. (AFP)

Q: What is the WHO Foundation’s assessment of Saudi Arabia’s role in supporting nations in the wider region, including the medical interventions of KSrelief? Does the Kingdom have a greater role to play in future humanitarian and disaster responses?

A: KSrelief is an incredible model, and we’re learning a lot from the existing collaboration between KSrelief, WHO and other international humanitarian partners. The generosity of KSrelief has been tremendous, but it’s not just about the number of dollars; they’re also thoughtful about the quality of aid and the policy frameworks necessary to ensure the positive impact intended. We want to replicate and build from this type of partnership and engagement.

Q: In what ways does the WHO Foundation want to mobilize greater private capital and public-private partnerships to advance the mission of WHO in Saudi Arabia and the wider region?

A: A part of what we are trying to do at the WHO Foundation is help stakeholders in Saudi and other countries in the region understand the critical role WHO plays. Though it was prominent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO is not just about responding to the pandemic; it responds to various emergencies; it’s operating in settings other agencies are not; it’s thinking and preparing for future emergencies.

Last month, WHO released its Global Health Emergency Appeals, enhancing preparedness and response to 54 ongoing health emergencies. And, of course, there’s all the normative work of WHO, the degree to which it acts as the world’s FDA, CDC, and NIH. 




Yemeni children receive treatment at a hospital in the capital Sanaa on October 11, 2016 during a cholera outbreak confirmed by the World Heath Organization. (AFP)

We hope that by raising awareness and amplifying the understanding of WHO and its initiatives, we can engage the tremendous generosity of the region and mobilize regional stakeholders to help WHO achieve its humanitarian goals.

Q: Philanthropy is a key tenet of Islam. What role can zakat play in the WHO Foundation’s fundraising work in the region?

A: I’ve been so blessed to have had the opportunity of getting to know different communities and faiths around the world and be inspired by different ones. Zakat is very inspiring and something I practice in my life. Even though I am a Hindu and an American, I allocate 5 percent of my income after tax to charity and to civic causes every year.

While zakat and sadaqah are particular elements of the Muslim faith, there’s great consistency between zakat and sadaqah and tithing. This culture of giving presents a tremendous opportunity to fund gaps in global humanitarian health crises and ensure help is directed to where it is most needed. I think the tradition of giving in faiths can inspire greater philanthropy, generosity, and collaboration in the future.

 


As security tightens, migrants take more risks to reach EU

Updated 17 August 2025
Follow

As security tightens, migrants take more risks to reach EU

  • Experts say migrants are adapting to stricter EU measures at borders and becoming more reliant on smugglers and newer, often more dangerous routes

LONDON: The number of people arriving illegally in Europe has fallen in 2025, but experts warn that irregular migration will persist as conflict and economic hardship intensify and migrants forge new pathways to avoid tougher security measures.

Arrivals fell by 20 percent in the first six months of the year, continuing 2024’s downward trend, according to the EU’s border agency Frontex, which credited the drop to increased cooperation with transit countries.

Since 1 million people entered Europe irregularly during the so-called migrant crisis in 2015, the EU has taken an increasingly tough stance on illicit arrivals.

However, experts say migrants are adapting to stricter EU measures at borders and becoming more reliant on smugglers and newer, often more dangerous routes.

While overall numbers are down, arrivals have not decreased across every route to Europe, and new corridors have emerged as migrants and smugglers adapt. “As one route declines, others usually surge or re-emerge,” said Jennifer Vallentine, an expert at the Mixed Migration Center, a research organization.

Irregular crossings dropped to 240,000 in 2024 after surpassing 300,000 in 2022 and 2023 for the first time since 2016.

Amid the downward trend, a new Mediterranean Sea corridor between Libya and Greece has emerged, with more than 7,000 people arriving in Crete this year.

The Greek government has proposed a new law to criminalize illegal entry and impose a temporary ban on asylum applications.

“Harsh restrictions won’t stop the need and desire to migrate, and with irregular migration the only option for some, smuggler services will stay in demand,” said Vallentine.

The main irregular entry points across the Mediterranean and over the Greek-Turkish land border have remained consistent over the last decade.

But activity on specific routes has fluctuated as people try to avoid increasing surveillance and border controls, according to experts. The EU has sought to shutter access at key entry points, said Helena Hahn, an expert at the European Policy Center think tank.

The bloc has struck deals with Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, key departure points for crossing the Mediterranean, bolstering the countries’ border forces with speed boats and surveillance and offering cash in exchange for preventing illegal migration.

“Cooperation with North African countries has certainly played a role in reducing arrivals,” said Hahn.

Arrivals across the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy and Malta decreased by 58 percent from 2023 to 2024, which the International Organization for Migration attributed to more boats being stopped at sea and migrants returned to Libya and Algeria.

But the organization also said the EU-North Africa partnerships contribute to increased activity on the Atlantic Ocean route from West Africa to the Canary Islands.

The Central Mediterranean route emerged as the sea’s busiest after the EU struck a deal with Turkiye in 2016, paying Ankara €6 billion ($6.95 billion) to care for Syrians who had fled their country’s civil war.

Turkiye also agreed to “take any necessary measures” to block new illegal routes into the EU.

Over the last decade, Europe has spent billions on surveillance systems and detection equipment and has posted Frontex staff at its external and internal borders.

The Western Balkan Route that connects arrivals in Greece with Western Europe via an arduous journey through the Balkan states has been a target of these efforts and last year, Frontex reported detections of irregular crossings on the route had dropped by 78 percent from 2023.

But the IRC only recorded a 16 percent drop over the same time period, which the organization said suggests people are traveling more covertly to avoid detection. “There’s a lot of deterrence, but it just makes people take more dangerous routes,” said Martha Roussou, a senior advocacy adviser at the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian charity.

Migrants are paying smugglers higher fees and traveling more quickly by night, stopping less often to seek help, according to the IRC.

The EU is set to triple its spending on borders in the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework to €81 billion.

“(Europe’s) reactive approach fails to acknowledge migration as both inevitable and beneficial,” said Vallentine.

“Until regular and accessible pathways are established, we will continue to see irregular migration — and smuggling networks will continue to adapt to facilitate it.”


UK to prosecute 60 people for supporting banned pro-Palestine group

Updated 17 August 2025
Follow

UK to prosecute 60 people for supporting banned pro-Palestine group

  • More than 700 people have been arrested since it was banned as a terrorist group in early July, including 522 people arrested at a protest last weekend for displaying placards backing the group

LONDON: At least 60 people will be prosecuted for “showing support” for the recently proscribed Palestine Action group, in addition to three already charged, London’s Metropolitan Police said.

“We have put arrangements in place that will enable us to investigate and prosecute significant numbers each week if necessary,” the Met said in a statement.

More than 700 people have been arrested since it was banned as a terrorist group in early July, including 522 people arrested at a protest last weekend for displaying placards backing the group — thought to be the highest ever recorded number of detentions at a single protest in the UK capital.

“The decisions that we have announced today are the first significant numbers to come out of the recent protests, and many more can be expected in the next few weeks,” said Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson.

“People should be clear about the real-life consequences for anyone choosing to support Palestine Action,” said Parkinson.

The first three people were charged earlier this month with offenses under the Terrorism Act for backing Palestine Action, after they were arrested at a July demonstration.

According to police, those charged for such offenses could face up to six months imprisonment, as well as other consequences.

“I am proud of how our police and CPS (prosecution) teams have worked so speedily together to overcome misguided attempts to overwhelm the justice system,” Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said. In a statement following the latest mass arrests, Interior Minister Yvette Cooper defended the Labour government’s decision, insisting: “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority.”

“The assessments are very clear — this is not a nonviolent organization,” she added.

The government outlawed Palestine Action on July 7, days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated £7.0 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.

The group said its activists were responding to Britain’s indirect military support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.

Britain’s Interior Ministry has insisted that Palestine Action was also suspected of other “serious attacks” that involved “violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage.”

Critics, including the UN, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace, have criticized the proscription as an overreach of the law and warned that the ensuing arrests threaten free speech.

The UK’s Liberal Democrat party said that it was “deeply concerned about the use of terrorism powers against peaceful protesters.”


Malawi’s restless youth challenged to vote in polls

Updated 17 August 2025
Follow

Malawi’s restless youth challenged to vote in polls

BLANTYRE: At a rally of pounding drums and ululating women, star Malawian rapper Fredokiss urged young people to vote in next month’s elections despite their disenchantment with the government and the choice of main presidential candidates, all aged over 70.

More than half of the population of the impoverished central African country is under 35 and the turnout on Sept. 16 of young voters — who made up 54 percent of registered voters in the 2019 election — is seen as a potential game-changer.

“Young people have the numbers, we have the voice,” the 37-year-old rapper-turned-politician said on the sidelines of the recent event in the southern city of Blantyre, a part-rally and part-street party held in a swirl of the red colors of his United Transformation Movement.

“We are the ones who will choose the next president — whether we like them or not — and the next MPs and councillors,” said Fredokiss, whose real name is Fredo Penjani Kalua.

But with campaigning in full swing, many young voters said they were uninspired by the familiar faces running to unseat President Lazarus Chakwera, 70, and his Malawi Congress Party, which has been accused of mismanagement since regaining power in 2020.

Chakwera took office following 2020 elections after the previous year’s poll was nullified over charges of widespread irregularities.

His main challengers are two former presidents: Peter Mutharika, 85, of the Democratic Progressive Party, and People’s Party candidate Joyce Banda, 74.

At 51, former central bank governor Dalitso Kabambe — candidate for another of the major parties, the UTM — is a spring chicken in comparison.

“This is our country, our home. We have to make it better,” said Fredokiss, who is running for the second time for a seat in parliament after losing out in 2019.

Nearly three-quarters of Malawi’s more than 21 million people live in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.

Months of inflation nearing 30 percent and crippling fuel shortages have made the economy a key issue in the largely rural and underdeveloped country, which is rich in natural resources but heavily indebted and dependent on foreign aid.

Fredokiss uses his music to denounce nepotism, tribalism and cronyism in Malawian politics, and to criticize the exploitation of local labor by foreign businesses and the crushing weight of youth unemployment.

“Governments and politicians are not providing solutions for young people: jobs, business opportunities, real hope,” Fredokiss said. “That’s why many are disgruntled. But this election should be the start, not the end, of our action.”

“It’s the same old faces with the same tired promises,” said a 30-year-old shopkeeper in the capital, Lilongwe, who would only give her name as Sandra.

“I registered hoping for fresh candidates with real ideas, but none have shown up — so why waste my vote?”

“None of the candidates make sense to me, so why pretend my vote would?” said Robert Chimtolo, 30, who runs the Maphunziro youth empowerment non-profit organization.

Sixty percent of the under-35 electorate turned out at the 2019 vote compared to 80 percent of older voters, according to election commission figures.


UK must bring sick, injured children from Gaza ‘without delay,’ MPs say

Updated 16 August 2025
Follow

UK must bring sick, injured children from Gaza ‘without delay,’ MPs say

  • Remove barriers preventing evacuations immediately, urges group of 96 parliamentarians
  • Letter to senior ministers says medical, humanitarian catastrophe reaching ‘horrific proportions’

LONDON: The British government must bring sick and injured Palestinian children from Gaza to the UK “without delay,” a group of MPs has said.

The cross-party group of 96 parliamentarians made the appeal in a letter to senior government ministers, the BBC reported.

Children in the Palestinian enclave are at risk of imminent death, and any barriers preventing their evacuation to Britain must be removed, they said.

Responding to Gaza’s “decimated” healthcare system requires adequate funding and a detailed timeline for child evacuations, the MPs added.

UN children’s charity UNICEF has said that more than 50,000 Palestinian children have been killed or injured since the beginning of the Gaza war in late 2023.

The medical and humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave has reached “horrific proportions,” said the MPs’ letter, which was coordinated by Dr. Simon Opher, a Labour MP and GP.

Signatories to the letter, addressing the health, home, and foreign secretaries, said they were working with Medecins sans Frontieres to expedite the evacuation of injured and ill Palestinian children to Britain.

The children and their families must be allowed to claim asylum after their treatment is completed, the letter said.

The UK Home Office previously said that biometric checks would be carried out before Palestinian children and their carers travel to the UK, a decision that was questioned by the letter’s signatories.

Plans to evacuate seriously ill or injured children from Gaza were being carried out “at pace,” the government said earlier in August.

A spokesperson said: “We are accelerating plans to evacuate children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option.”

Several hundred Palestinian children are expected to be evacuated as part of the scheme.

Since late 2023, the UK has channeled funding toward the treatment of injured and seriously ill Palestinians in hospitals across the Middle East.

Liz Harding, of MSF’s UK branch, welcomed the MPs’ letter and called on the government to waive its biometric visa requirement.

Britain must “urgently act on its commitment by creating a dedicated, publicly funded pathway based on clinical need, not bureaucracy,” she added.


Zelensky braces for perilous Trump talks in Washington on Monday

Updated 16 August 2025
Follow

Zelensky braces for perilous Trump talks in Washington on Monday

  • War in Ukraine at critical diplomatic juncture
  • Trump wants rapid peace deal, not ceasefire
  • Putin gave no ground at talks in Alaska, Zelensky’s last trip to DC ended in disaster

LONDON/KYIV: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky flies to Washington on Monday under heavy US pressure to agree a swift end to Russia’s war in Ukraine but determined to defend Kyiv’s interests — without sparking a second Oval Office bust-up with Donald Trump.

The US president invited Zelensky to Washington after rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, Kyiv’s arch foe, at a summit in Alaska that shocked many in Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands have died since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

The Alaska talks failed to produce the ceasefire that Trump sought, and the US leader said on Saturday that he now wanted a rapid, full-fledged peace deal and that Kyiv should accept because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not.”

The blunt rhetoric throws the onus squarely back on Zelensky, putting him in a perilous position as he returns to Washington for the first time since his talks with Trump in the Oval Office in February descended into acrimony.

The US president upbraided him in front of world media at the time, saying Zelensky did not “hold the cards” in negotiations and that what he described as Kyiv’s intransigence risked triggering World War Three.

Trump’s pursuit of a quick deal defies intense diplomacy by the European allies and Ukraine to convince him that a ceasefire should come first and not — as sought by the Kremlin — once a settlement is agreed.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that European leaders had also been invited to Monday’s meeting between Trump and Zelensky, though it was unclear who would actually attend.

Trump briefed Zelensky on his talks with Putin during a call on Saturday that lasted more than an hour and a half, the Ukrainian leader said. They were joined after an hour by European and NATO officials, he added.

“The impression is he wants a fast deal at any price,” a source familiar with the conversation said.

The source said Trump told Zelensky that Putin had offered to freeze the front lines elsewhere as part of a deal, if Ukraine fully withdrew its troops from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, something Zelensky said was not possible.

Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff told the Ukrainian leader that Putin had said there could be no ceasefire before that happened, and that the Russian leader could pledge not to launch any new aggression against Ukraine as part of an agreement.

Kyiv has publicly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognized Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and says the industrial Donetsk region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine.

Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Reuters by phone that Trump’s emphasis on a deal rather than a ceasefire carried great risks for Ukraine.

“In Putin’s view, a peace agreement means several dangerous things – Ukraine not joining NATO, his absurd demands for denazification and demilitarization, the Russian language and the Russian church,” he said.

Any such deal could be politically explosive inside Ukraine, Merezhko said, adding he was worried that Putin’s ostracism in the West had ended.

SECURITY GUARANTEES

Avoiding a repeat of the Oval Office row is critical for Zelensky to preserve relations with the US, which still provides military assistance and is the key source of intelligence on Russia’s military activity.

For Ukraine, robust guarantees to prevent any future Russian invasion are fundamental to any serious settlement.

Two sources familiar with the matter said Trump and the European leaders discussed potential security guarantees for Ukraine similar to the transatlantic NATO alliance’s mutual support pledge during their call. It says, in effect, that an attack on one is treated as an attack on all.

One of the two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said European leaders were seeking details on what kind of US role was envisaged.

Zelensky has repeatedly said a trilateral meeting with the Russian and US leaders is crucial to finding a way to end the full-scale war launched by Russia in February 2022.

Trump this week voiced the idea of such a meeting, saying it could happen if his talks in Alaska with Putin were successful.

“Ukraine emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this,” Zelensky wrote on social media on Saturday. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told the Russian state news agency TASS a three-way summit had not been discussed in Alaska.