Sunday, August 17th, I'm Ali Velshi.

Tomorrow's meeting at the White House between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky

is growing in size.

In quick succession this morning, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,

Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Murs, NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta, President of Finland,

Alexander Stubb, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Kirstarmer, all announced that they too will take part in the meeting.

President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and Prime Minister of Italy, Georgia Maloney are also reportedly expected to attend.

According to the German Chancellor's office, the talks will address, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues,

and continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression. This includes maintaining

the pressure of sanctions. In a social media post, the European Commissioners von der Leyen says her

participation came, quote, at the request of President Zelensky. This morning, von der Leyen

welcomed Zelensky in Brussels for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing.

The other members joined virtually.

Now, the Coalition of the Willing is the semi-formal group consisting of more than 30 countries formed

after Donald Trump returned to power with the dedicated aim of providing robust security guarantees to Ukraine in order to ensure a lasting peace

in the event of a comprehensive peace deal. Several members, including nuclear-armed France and the

UK, have also pledged to send troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force.

Both von der Leyen and Zelenskyy say today's coalition meeting is focusing on those security

guarantees and their position ahead of tomorrow's meeting with Trump.

Both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff confirmed this morning

that European leaders would take part in tomorrow's talks.

Notably, Whitkoff also revealed that during Friday's Alaska summit, Trump and Putin came to an

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