KYIV, Ukraine — What a difference a suit makes.
After his February fiasco in the Oval Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “fabulous” fashion decision — as well as the golf club, personal letter and supportive European leaders he brought with him — appear to have helped shift the mood of his high-level White House talks on peace with Russia.
While the Kremlin publicly smarted, a sense of relief swept through Ukraine and across Europe after the summit with President Donald Trump. Zelenskyy hailed it Tuesday as “a truly significant step” toward ending the war.
That optimism was thanks at least in part to the tone set by the Ukrainian leader’s arrival in a blazer-style jacket and collared shirt, a departure from his trademark military garb.
A fixation on attire might seem trivial given the stakes as the world leaders gathered to discuss ending the brutal conflict, but style mattered here.
For Europe’s leaders, the meeting was about optics as much as substance: A chance to undo any ground Russian President Vladimir Putin may have gained with Trump in Alaska last week.
“I love it,” Trump said as he greeted Zelenskyy, no doubt sparking a sigh of relief from the suited gaggle of European heads of state who had flown in determined to avoid a repeat of February’s bust-up, when Zelenskyy was lambasted for not wearing a suit and accused of disrespecting the White House.
Zelenskyy had clearly adjusted his approach to diplomacy beyond his outfit, opening with a flurry of 11 “thank yous” in four and a half minutes, a striking contrast with February when he was branded ungrateful.
The Ukrainian leader forged family ties, handing his host a letter from Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska to be delivered to American First Lady Melania Trump. Zelenskyy also presented Trump with a golf club, a gift passed on to him by a wounded Ukrainian soldier.
“You look fabulous in that suit,” said the reporter who originally took Zelenskyy to task about his outfit in February.
Zelenskyy himself didn’t leave empty handed. Trump handed him “symbolic keys to the White House,” the Ukrainian president’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
He was not alone in working to woo the American leader even as the discussion turned to the knotty details of ceasefires and security guarantees.
It was no accident the European contingent included figures with reputations for charming Trump, a delegation curated to curry favor who took every opportunity to shower Trump with praise for his efforts to break the deadlock with Moscow.
“Something has changed thanks to you,” said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “I really want to thank you for your leadership,” opined NATO chief Mark Rutte.
The substance of the talks remains murky, but Trump refrained from blaming Europe and appeared to enjoy the onslaught of flattery while even offering some in return.
He complimented German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on his tan and showed off a shelf of MAGA hats to Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron.
And the spectacle did not go unnoticed in Moscow.
Newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets said European leaders had begun negotiations with “outright bootlicking,” while outlet Argumenty said Zelenskyy had “humiliated” himself in the White House.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev scoffed that Europe had “thanked and sucked up” to Trump, while sneering at Zelenskyy’s sartorial choice. “The question is which tune the Kiev clown will play about guarantees & territories back home, once he’s put on his green military uniform again,” he said.
In his own apparent attempt at flattery, Medvedev opined that Europe’s leaders had “failed to outplay” Trump.
In Ukraine, however, the mood was positive.
“This round of talks was won by Ukraine and its allies outright,” Serhii Kosiianchuk, a 39-year-old account manager from Kyiv, told NBC News. He said he was “impressed” by the meeting, adding that “previous mistakes” had been taken into account.
But the theater may have overshadowed the thinness of concrete results.
Welcoming the contrast to the “fiasco” of February, graphic designer Kateryna Gonchar, 38, was nonetheless cautious about the path forward. Zelenskyy had clearly worked with a large team “so as not to annoy Trump even more, and to show that we are ready to make certain concessions,” she said.
Many analysts agreed.
Europe’s leaders had “bent over backwards to butter up Trump,” but the war “doesn’t look any closer to resolution,” said Michael Bociurkiw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.
“It’s very, very important to separate spectacles from facts and what’s really going on on the ground,” he said in a phone interview, citing Russian attacks that killed ten people in Ukraine just hours before the Washington meeting and new attacks early Tuesday.
Trump said he intended the next step to be a direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, while European leaders were set to reconvene later Tuesday.
They will focus on the issue of security guarantees, after Trump’s more positive tone offered cause for optimism but also questions about the sacrifices Ukraine may have to make in order to secure them.
Daryna Mayer reported from Kyiv, and Freddie Clayton from London.
