Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy flies to Washington on Monday under heavy U.S. pressure to agree a swift end to Russia's war in Ukraine but determined to defend Kyiv's interests - without sparking a second Oval Office bust-up with Donald Trump, Reuters reported.

The U.S. president invited Zelenskiy to Washington after rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, Kyiv's arch foe, at a summit in Alaska that shocked many in Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands have died since Russia's 2022 invasion.

The Alaska talks failed to produce the ceasefire that Trump sought, and the U.S. leader said on Saturday that he now wanted a rapid, full-fledged peace deal and that Kyiv should accept because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not".

The blunt rhetoric throws the onus squarely back on Zelenskiy, putting him in a perilous position as he returns to Washington for the first time since his talks with Trump in the Oval Office in February descended into acrimony, according to Reuters.