Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top European leaders met with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss plans to bring an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump convened the meeting after last week’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where Putin rejected the idea of a ceasefire before reaching a comprehensive peace deal and urged Ukraine to surrender territory in the east in exchange for freezing the front line elsewhere.
Trump and Zelenskyy’s interactions were notably warmer than their tense encounter at the White House in February, with the US president even praising his counterpart’s suit.
Here are the key takeaways:
Trump says US will give Ukraine ‘very good protection’
Trump said the US would back Europe in protecting Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war with Russia.
“We have people waiting in another room, right now, they’re all here from Europe,” Trump added.
Trump also said that US support for Ukraine would continue regardless of the outcome of the talks.
Zelenskyy hailed the pledge as “a major step forward”.
He later told reporters that Ukraine had offered to buy about $90bn worth of US weapons.
Zelenskyy says he’s open to elections in Ukraine, if safe
Zelenskyy backed elections, provided they are held under safe circumstances.
“We need a truce… to make it possible for people to do democratic, open, legal elections,” he added.
Trump says ceasefire not needed
When asked if he would carry out his promise from last week to impose “severe consequences” on Russia if it does not end the war, Trump replied that a ceasefire may not be needed.
You know, if you look at the six deals that I settled this year, they were all at war. I didn’t do any ceasefires. And I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand strategically why one country or the other wouldn’t want it,” he said.
Ukraine needs ‘everything’ related to security guarantees: Zelenskyy
Asked what guarantees Zelenskyy would need from Trump to agree to a deal, the Ukrainian leader responded: “everything”.
Trump sits down with European leaders
After his initial meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump held a multilateral meeting with the Ukrainian leader and European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social after the talks that he had called President Putin and that arrangements were being made for a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.
European leaders lay out positions
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the priority must be to stop the killing, as well as the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure, thanking Trump for having “broken the deadlock”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the focus must be on a “just and lasting peace for Ukraine”, and added: “Every single child has to go back to its family,” referring to the forced removal of Ukrainian children to Russia and Belarus.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he “can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire”, urging allies to “work on that and try to put pressure on Russia”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the aim must be a “robust and longstanding peace”, and called the idea of a trilateral meeting “very important because this is the only way to fix it”.
What’s next?
European Council leaders will hold a video call tomorrow to review Monday’s talks, President Antonio Costa said.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/19/what-to-know-about-trumps-talks-with-zelenskyy-and-european-leaders?traffic_source=rss
