The seven European leaders who accompanied President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House on Monday made little secret of why they had suddenly interrupted their summer vacations to make the trip. They believed they might need to shield the Ukrainian leader from the disparagement and bullying he had to endure on his last Oval Office in February.

A handful of European leaders are in Washington, D.C., to participate in the conversations between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky about how to move forward in the joint effort to end the war in Ukraine.