From the New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily.

Today, European leaders raced to Washington, D.C., to show their support for Ukrainian president,

Flodomier Zelensky, as he met with President Trump on Monday.

It was the two men's first face-to-face meeting in the White House since their disastrous blow-up in the Oval Office back in February.

This time, Mr. Zelensky tried flattery and deference as he continues to press the United States for support in Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia.

Today, my colleague Michael Schwartz explains why Zelensky's approach has changed and how this

meeting may give him a new advantage in his efforts to end the war.

It's Tuesday, August 19th.

Michael Schwartz, we're talking to you because you have covered the Ukraine war since it was just an idea that we had you on the show to talk about.

So we really appreciate you making the time on such a busy newsday.

Any time.

So, Michael, there were a lot fewer European leaders in Europe today because so many of them flew to Washington, D.C. for this kind of hastily

organized but huge meeting with President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

So to start, explain to us what this meeting was all about.

This meeting was a response to a summit that President Trump had with his Russian counterpart,

President Vladimir Putin of Russia, in Alaska last week.

And this is the latest in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to force some kind of settlements to the war in Ukraine, which is coming up on its fourth year.

And there have been these on again and off again conversations between the White House, Trump, and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, about trying to come together and forge some kind of peace deal.

Let's talk about that meeting that you mentioned last week a little bit more. We previewed it on

Friday's show, and it was clear going into that meeting what specifically the Europeans and

Ukraine were worried about, that basically Trump would give away the

store, so to speak, that he would make too many concessions to Putin. What actually happened

...