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WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump expressed hope that their critical meeting Monday with European leaders at the White House could lead to three-party talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to his war on Ukraine.
The US president also said he would back European security guarantees for Ukraine as European leaders gathered in Washington to show support for Ukraine at the extraordinary White House meeting.
Trump stopped short of committing US troops to the effort, saying instead that there would be a “NATO-like” security presence but that all those details would be hashed out in their afternoon meeting with EU leaders.
“They want to give protection and they feel very strongly about it and we’ll help them out with that,” Trump said. “I think its very important to get the deal done.”
Trump’s engagement with Zelensky had a strikingly different feel to their last Oval Office meeting in February. It was a disastrous moment that led to Trump abruptly ending talks with the Ukrainian delegation after he and Vice President JD Vance complained that Zelensky had shown insufficient gratitude for US military assistance.
Zelensky at the start of the meeting presented a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, for Trump’s wife, Melania. The US first lady over the weekend sent a letter to Putin urging him to bring an end to the brutal 3 1/2 year war.
Trump at one point needled Zelensky over Ukraine delaying elections. They had been scheduled for last year but were delayed because of the ongoing Russian invasion. Ukrainian law does not allow presidential elections to be held when martial law is in effect.
Trump joked that a similar circumstance wouldn’t play well in the US.
“So let me just say three and a half years from now — so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections, oh, I wonder what the fake news would say,” Trump said.
Zelensky faced criticism during his February meeting from a conservative journalist for appearing in the Oval Office in a long sleeve T-shirt. This time he appeared in dark jacket and buttoned-shirt.
Zelensky has said his typically less formal attire since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 is to show solidarity with Ukrainian soldiers.
Monday’s hastily assembled meeting comes after Trump met on Friday with Putin and has said that the onus is now on Zelensky to agree to concessions of land that he said could end the war.
“If everything works out today, we’ll have a trilat,” Trump said, referring to possible three-way talks among Zelensky, Putin and Trump. “We’re going to work with Russia, we’re going to work with Ukraine.”
Trump also said he plans to talk to Putin after his meetings with Zelensky and European leaders.
Zelensky expressed openness to trilateral talks.
“We are ready for trilateral as president said,” Zelensky said.
Trump first held one-on-one talks with Zelensky. The two will later gather with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
The European leaders were left out of Trump’s summit with Putin. They want to safeguard Ukraine and the continent from any widening aggression from Moscow. Many arrived at the White House with the explicit goal of protecting Ukraine’s interests — a rare show of diplomatic force.
Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Trump suggested that Ukraine could not regain Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, setting off an armed conflict that led to its broader 2022 invasion.
“President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote Sunday night on social media. “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. Some things never change!!!”
Zelensky responded with his own post late Sunday, saying, “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably.” He said that “peace must be lasting,” not as it was after Russia seized Crimea and part of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine eight years ago, and “Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack.”
Zelensky said in a social media post he met with Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, on Monday ahead of his scheduled talks with Trump to discuss the battlefield situation and the shared “strong diplomatic capabilities” of the US, Ukraine and Europe. He also held talks with European leaders at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington.
European heavyweights in Washington
On the table for discussion with European leaders are possible NATO-like security guarantees that Ukraine would need for any peace with Russia to be durable. Putin opposes Ukraine joining NATO outright, yet Trump’s team claims the Russian leader is open to allies agreeing to defend Ukraine if it comes under attack.
“Clearly there are no easy solutions when talking about ending a war and building peace,” Meloni told reporters. “We have to explore all possible solutions to guarantee peace, to guarantee justice, and to guarantee security for our countries.”
The European leaders are aiming to keep the focus during the White House talks on finding a sustainable peace and believe forging a temporary ceasefire is not off the table, according to a European official.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the leaders are also looking to keep pressure on Russia to end the fighting and want to get more concrete assurances from the US about security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any deal.
Zelensky outlined what he said his country needed to feel secure, which included a “strong Ukrainian army” through weapons sales and training. The second part, he said, would depend on the outcome of Monday’s talks and what EU countries, NATO and the US would be able to guarantee to the war-torn country.
Trump briefed Zelensky and European allies shortly after the Putin meeting. Details from the discussions emerged in a scattershot way that seemed to rankle the US president, who had chosen not to outline any terms when appearing afterward with Putin.
Ahead of Monday’s White House meetings, Trump took to social media to say that even if Russia said, “We give up, we concede, we surrender” the news media and Democrats “would say that this was a bad and humiliating day for Donald J. Trump.”
Following the Alaska summit, Trump declared that a ceasefire was not necessary for peace talks to proceed, a sudden shift to a position favored by Putin.
‘A very big move’
European officials confirmed that Trump told them Putin is still seeking control of the entire Donbas region, even though Ukraine controls a meaningful share of it.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the US and its allies could offer Ukraine a NATO-like commitment to defend the country if it came under attack as the possible security guarantee, with details to be worked out.
Zelensky came into the talks look to prevent a scenario in which he gets blamed for blocking peace talks by rejecting Putin’s maximalist demand on the Donbas. It is a demand Zelensky has said many times he will never accept because it is unconstitutional and could create a launching pad for future Russian attacks.