US President Donald Trump said last night that he had undertaken to organize a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss a path to ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while confirming that Washington would support European security guarantees aimed at preventing a new Russian attack after the end of the current conflict, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Details of security guarantees and Trump's efforts to organize peace talks are still being finalized after an expanded meeting between the US president, his Ukrainian counterpart and other European leaders at the White House.
After the talks, the leaders expressed cautious optimism that Trump may be gaining momentum in his attempt to fulfill a campaign promise to end the the exhausting war.
“The most important outcome of the meeting is the commitment of the United States to work with us to provide security guarantees,“ French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters. According to him, one of the security guarantees should be a strong Ukrainian army capable of preventing any new attacks, AFP quoted him as saying.
Trump said he would start preparing a meeting between Zelensky and Putin. He spoke by phone with Putin during talks involving Zelensky and the leaders of Britain, Finland, France, Germany and Italy, as well as the president of the European Commission and the secretary general of NATO.
The development comes amid serious concerns in Europe that Trump is pressuring Ukraine to make concessions that would only embolden Putin, after the American leader hosted the Russian president for a meeting in Alaska last week, the AP reports.
“I called President Putin and began preparations for a meeting at a location to be further specified between President Putin and President Zelensky,“ Trump wrote on social media. “After this meeting, we will have a trilateral meeting - the two presidents plus myself. This is a very good early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years.
It is not clear whether Putin has fully agreed to such talks.
Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said that Putin and Trump "expressed support" for continuing direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations. Ushakov added that they also discussed "the idea of raising the level of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks," TASS reported.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told Fox News that "if Russia does not cooperate" with direct talks with Ukraine, "the United States and Europe will do more in terms of tariffs and sanctions." against Moscow.
Zelensky had previously insisted that Russia agree to a ceasefire before a meeting between him and Putin, but said yesterday that if Ukraine starts setting conditions, the Russians will do the same.
“That's why I think we should meet without preconditions and think about what progress can be made on the way to ending the war,“ Zelensky said.
Trump had earlier said in talks with Zelensky and European leaders that a potential ceasefire and the question of which side will control Ukrainian territories seized by Russia should be resolved in a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders.
“We'll let the president go and talk to the president and see how things go,“ Trump said.
This is a change from comments he made after his meeting with Putin last week, when he appeared to lean toward Putin's demands for Ukraine to make territorial concessions. Russia currently controls roughly a fifth of Ukraine's territory.
Trump did not commit the United States to sending troops as part of a collective effort to bolster Ukraine's security. Instead, he said there would be a "sort of NATO-like" presence and that the details would be worked out with EU leaders.
Zelensky stressed that active U.S. participation in the emerging security guarantees was key. "It's important for the United States to send a clear signal that it will be among the countries that will help coordinate and participate in security guarantees for Ukraine," Zelensky said.
Earlier yesterday, ahead of the White House meetings, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected the idea of a possible NATO peacekeeping force in Ukraine, saying such a scenario could lead to escalation and “unpredictable consequences“.
Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was a stark contrast to their last in the Oval Office in February, when the talks ended in disaster: Trump abruptly ended the meeting and temporarily withheld some aid to Kiev after he and Vice President J.D. Vance complained that Zelensky had not shown enough gratitude for U.S. military support.
At the start of the talks yesterday, Zelensky handed over a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, to Melania Trump.
Zelensky was criticized during the February meeting by a conservative journalist for coming to the Oval Office wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt. This time, he appeared in a dark jacket and buttoned-up shirt. Zelensky has said his more casual attire since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 symbolizes solidarity with Ukrainian soldiers.
European leaders arrived in Washington with the intention of securing Ukraine and the continent against possible wider aggression from Moscow.
Before yesterday's meeting, Trump hinted that Ukraine would not be able to take back Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, sparking a conflict that led to the wider invasion in 2022.
On Sunday evening, Zelensky responded with a post: “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and safely.“ He said that “peace must be lasting,“ not like after 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and part of Donbas and “Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack.“
European leaders have suggested that a temporary truce is not out of the question. After his meeting with Putin on Friday, Trump dropped his call for an immediate ceasefire and said he would seek a final peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine - a sudden shift in a position favored by Putin, the AP notes.
Yesterday, the German chancellor and the French president praised Trump for opening a path to peace but urged him to insist on an immediate ceasefire with Russia.
"Let's try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of the efforts we are making today depends on at least having a ceasefire at the beginning of serious negotiations," said Friedrich Merz.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for Europeans to be included in the talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine after Donald Trump manages to bring Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky to the same table.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte thanked US President Donald Trump for finding a way out of the impasse with the Russian president. Vladimir Putin, having started a dialogue.
Italy supports US efforts to achieve peace, remains on Ukraine's side and advocates providing security guarantees to Ukraine modeled on the principle of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen said the return of abducted Ukrainian children to their families should be among the priorities. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children during the war. Russia, which is not a member of the International Criminal Court, denies these accusations.
In the last two weeks, we have made more progress towards ending this war than we have in the last three and a half years, Finnish President Alexander Stubb told the meeting.
“I think we had a very good conversation with President Trump, it was really the best“, the Ukrainian head of state said in the meantime. He later added that Kiev had offered to buy US weapons for $90 billion, and the “Financial Times“ spoke of a budget of $100 billion financed by the Europeans.
Before the talks with the Europeans began, the US president told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a private conversation, apparently caught on tape without his knowledge, and referring to Vladimir Putin: “I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds“.