WASHINGTON ( WNAM MONITORING): US President Donald Trump hosted his Ukrainian counterpart and European leaders Monday for highly anticipated talks aimed at reaching a unified position on ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump and Zelenskyy signaled optimism in brief remarks before reporters as they prepared to head into hours of closed-door meetings. The scene was a marked departure from the Oval Office meltdown that transpired when Zelenskyy first visited in February amid Trump’s push to end the war.
For his part, Trump signaled a willingness to provide Ukraine with US security guarantees as part of any prospective peace deal, saying the matter will be discussed during Monday’s sit-down.
“We’re going to be discussing it today, but we will give them very good protection, very good security. That’s part of it. And the people that are waiting for us, they are, I think they’re very like-minded,” Trump said, referring to the European leaders who earlier arrived at the White House.
“They’re all here from Europe, biggest people in Europe, and they want to give protection. They feel very strongly about it, and we’ll help them out with that. I think it’s very important to get the deal done,” he added.
Among the officials who are participating in the talks are UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is also slated to participate.
Trump did not rule out sending US forces to Ukraine as part of a potential security guarantee, saying: “We’ll let you know that, maybe later today.”
Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his “personal efforts” to end the Kremlin’s war, and signaled an openness to taking part in a trilateral meeting with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are ready for trilateral. As President (Trump) said, this is good signal about trilateral. I think this is very good,” he said.
Trump has sought to portray the proposed three-way meeting as the next step in his efforts to end the Russian war after meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. While Trump and Putin each signaled progress towards a peace deal, details on what the leaders agreed to have been scarce.
Trump said he spoke to Putin “indirectly” before heading into discussions with Zelenskyy and the European leaders, and said he would speak by phone with the Russian leader “right after” Monday’s meetings conclude.
Asked if Monday’s meetings represent the “end of the road” for US support for Ukraine, Trump said that is not the case.
“It’s never the end of the road. People are being killed, and we want to stop that. So, I would not say it’s the end of the road. No, I think we have a good chance of doing it,” he said.
