UKRAINE will not be allowed to join the Nato military alliance and must give up hope of regaining Crimea from Russia, US President Donald Trump said ahead of a crunch meeting at the White House last night.

In a social media post on Sunday night, he wrote that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.

“Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and no going into Nato by Ukraine.”

There is also speculation that Mr Trump will insist that Ukraine cede the Donbass region, most of which is already occupied by Russian forces. 

The region, which comprises Luhansk and Donetsk, is strategically important and rich in mineral resources.

Mr Zelensky will be joined at the White House meeting — due to begin later this evening — by French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen  and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.

The Ukrainian president has previously rejected Russian demands for his country to surrender any of the territories, insisting that its constitution forbids giving up territory or trading land, although he has already violated the constitution by cancelling scheduled presidential elections.

Moscow has raised this as an obstacle to any deal. It argues that Mr Zelensky is occupying the presidency unlawfully and so cannot legitimately sign an agreement with Russia.

But, as a condition for peace, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the US and its European allies could provide Ukraine with a “robust” and “game-changing” security guarantee resembling Nato’s collective defence pledge, according to Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Mr Witkoff told CNN on Sunday that it had been agreed at the Alaska summit that the US and Europe could “effectively offer article five-like language to cover a security guarantee.”

Article five is the clause in Nato’s founding treaty which states that if any member of the alliance comes under attack, the others will take action in its defence.

The so-called “coalition of the willing,” a group of Ukraine’s allies including Britain, France and Germany, has suggested the deployment of a “reassurance force” once the war is over.