US President Donald Trump said Monday that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal, as he hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in an extraordinary show of unity at the White House.
Trump expressed optimism over the chances of ending Russia’s invasion and said he was ready to hold a three-way meeting with Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met in Alaska last week.
Zelenskyy, who also met separately with Trump in the Oval Office for the first time since their acrimonious row there in February, said his talks with Trump on Monday were the “best” yet.
“In a week or two weeks, we’re going to know whether or not we’re going to solve this or is this horrible fighting going to continue,” Trump said as he opened the meeting.
The presence of the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the European Commission and NATO however underscored continuing nervousness about Trump’s pressure on Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow.
Trump had pushed Ukraine ahead of the meeting to give up Crimea and abandon its goal of joining NATO, both key demands made by Putin.
‘Exchanges of territory’
But the US president said his talks with Putin had made progress on the issue of security guarantees.
“In a very significant step, President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine,” Trump said. “We’re going to be considering that at the table, also who will do what essentially.”
Trump said that during the White House talks on Monday they also “need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory” between Russia and Ukraine.
Reports had said Putin was pushing for Ukraine to cede its eastern Donbas region, much of which is still partly in Kyiv’s hands, in exchange for freezing the frontline elsewhere.
Ukraine has rejected any such move.
Trump said he was ready to attend a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy in the near future to reach a peace deal.
“I think if everything works out well today we’ll have a trilat, and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that,” Trump said earlier as he sat in the Oval Office alongside Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy hailed his meeting with Trump, saying it was “important that the United States gives such strong signals” about Western security guarantees.
The atmosphere was far calmer than when Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy in front of TV cameras less than six months ago for not being “grateful” for US support.
Trump even complimented Zelenskyy on his black jacket, after the Ukrainian was criticised by right-wing media because he failed to change his trademark war-leader’s outfit for a suit during the February visit.
‘Really excited’
The Europeans lined up to praise and thank Trump as they called for a lasting peace to end Russia’s invasion.
“I’m really excited. Let’s make the best out of today,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said as the US president went round the table asking them to comment.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Trump had moved the war into “a new phase” and that “in the past two weeks we’ve had more progress than in the past three and a half years”, respectively.
And Meloni, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and British prime minister Keir Starmer each expressed happiness to be discussing “Article 5-like” guarantees.
Trump said on security guarantees that he thinks “European nations are going to take a lot of the burden and we’re going to help them”, leaving open the question of how much exactly the US will help.
Thinking of the children
One item that had been brought back to the top of the agenda was the need to do prisoner swaps, and repatriation of children.
At the Alaska Summit over the weekend, Trump delivered to Putin a letter handwritten by First Lady Melania Trump, which asked the Russian president to return Ukrainian children to their homes.
Zelenskyy made a point of expressing gratitude for the gesture, and von der Leyen emphasised “as a mother and grandmother, every single child has to go back to its family”.
Before heading into a closed-door meeting in the Oval Office, there was already some clarity on the next steps.
Trump said he would be talking to Putin by telephone later Monday, and then move towards the trilateral meeting.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz somewhat contradicted Trump’s thought to go straight for a full peace deal instead of an immediate ceasefire, calling for a truce before any leaders’ summit.
“Let’s work on that and let’s try to put pressure on Russia,” Merz said.
Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron suggested ultimately there would be a need for a quadrilateral meeting, “as we speak about the security of the whole European continent”.
(cp)
