KYIV, Ukraine—President Trump’s face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday will heap pressure on one person not at the table: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

       Zelensky has tried to position himself as the party who was eager for a peace deal—something Trump has sought to broker since he returned to office this year. Concerns run high in Kyiv that Trump will seek to strike a deal with Putin that will be disadvantageous to Ukraine, or at least be persuaded by Putin that Zelensky is the one in the way of an end to the bloodshed.

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