Good morning. It's Sunday, August the 17th. I'm Ali Valshi. This morning in quick succession,

a coalition of European leaders have announced that they will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

at the White House tomorrow for his meeting with President Donald Trump. As of this hour,

we know that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Chancellor of Germany,

Friedrich Murs, NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Mers,

NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta, President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Kier Starmor, have all announced that they will take part in the meeting.

The Prime Minister of Italy, Georgia Maloney, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron,

are also reportedly expected to attend.

This is a massive development. It's made Zelensky's meeting with Trump much, much bigger.

President Trump has not yet responded directly to the news of the additional guests who are expected at the White House tomorrow.

But this morning, the U.F. Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff revealed that during Friday's Alaska summit,

Trump and Putin came to an

agreement allowing the U.S. and European nations to offer NATO, quote, Article 5 like protection,

end quote, to Ukraine as part of a security guarantee in a potential final deal. Now, just so we know,

NATO's Article 5 is a mutual defense pact,

which essentially says an attack on one is an attack as an attack on all, and all member nations

are compelled to come to the defense of the nation that is attacked. So we're not quite sure

how this is going to unfold, but that's the latest on that front. Now, going back to Vladimir Putin, no one understands the wrath of Vladimir Putin,

quite like someone who's experienced it firsthand and lived to tell the tale. In May of 2023,

Bill Browder wrote in Time magazine, quote, when Russia invaded Ukraine, everyone was shocked

and scared, but for me, it was deeply personal. I've known Putin's

murderous intent for the last two decades, and I know how terrible this was going to be. Browder,

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