U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and seven European leaders at the White House on Monday to discuss ways to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
Trump first held a bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy.
While answering reporters’ questions together with the Ukrainian leader, Trump said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the conflict to end, and he will work with Ukraine and all parties to make sure peace stays.
Trump said progress is being made and there will be security guarantees that Ukraine asks for.
Zelenskyy said he supports the idea of finishing the conflict in a diplomatic way and he is ready for a trilateral meeting.
The European leaders – NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron – attended joint talks after the bilateral meeting.
In a speech to the media along with other leaders, Trump said Putin agreed to accept security guarantees for Ukraine and that Putin wants to find an answer.
Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine would be happy if Trump could attend a potential trilateral meeting with him and Putin.
The Ukrainian leader said sensitive issues, including territory, would be discussed at the trilateral meeting.
Trump said such a trilateral meeting should be held “as soon as we can.”
The European leaders supported the idea of a ceasefire, saying that some progress could be made on security guarantees for Ukraine.
“I can’t imagine that the next meeting will take place without a ceasefire,” Merz said.
Macron floated the idea of a quadrilateral meeting that also involves the Europeans, saying that “when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent.”
Trump broke off talks with European leaders to place a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to media reports.
“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.
The meetings on Monday took place after Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours in the U.S. state of Alaska on Friday. No deal was reached from the Friday meeting.
