WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump held a multilateral meeting at the White House on Monday on resolving the Ukraine conflict. The talks were attended by Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Britain, Germany, Italy, France and Finland, as well as representatives of the European Commission and NATO. For the first time in history, the White House hosted such a large number of European leaders.
The multilateral meeting was preceded by a bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelensky that lasted approximately one hour. In addition, Trump contacted Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone to update him on the talks. Their conversation lasted roughly 40 minutes; both advocated for the continuation of direct talks between Moscow and Kiev and discussed the possibility of raising their level, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
Trump's position
Trump said after the White House talks that he had begun preparations for a meeting between Putin and Zelensky "at a place to be determined". The meeting would be followed by trilateral talks involving the US, Russia and Ukraine, Trump added. "During the meeting, we discussed security guarantees for Ukraine that would be provided by various European countries in cooperation with the United States," he wrote on the Truth Social platform. "Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine," he added.
Before the talks, Trump expressed confidence that it would be possible to hold a trilateral meeting between him, Putin and Zelensky. In a meeting with European leaders and Zelensky, he said it was only a matter of time.
The US President is convinced that Russia is seeking to resolve the conflict. After talks with Zelensky, he stressed that the threat of further Russian aggression against Ukraine is overestimated. Trump also noted that working on a peace deal does not require a ceasefire.
The US leader pointed out that Russia and Ukraine should discuss a possible exchange of territories to resolve the crisis. Trump expects that within "one or two weeks" it will be clear whether the Ukrainian conflict can be resolved.
Zelensky's statement
After talks with Trump, Zelensky said he was ready for a bilateral meeting with the Russian president. "I confirmed, and all the leaders supported me, that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin," he said at a press conference. He added that he expects a trilateral meeting with Trump afterwards, and said a date for the meeting with Putin has not yet been set.
Zelensky also said he would like to discuss at a potential bilateral meeting with Putin "the question of territory", adding that it does not insist on a ceasefire as a condition for further negotiations.
Zelensky claimed that "all sensitive issues, those that concern territory and other matters", will be discussed at a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US and Russia.
In addition, Zelensky added that security guarantees for Ukraine should be written and put on paper within 7-10 days. According to him, the guarantees have three aspects, which concern weapons for the Ukrainian army, commitments of allies and the development of the Ukrainian defence industry.
He added that it was too early to talk about the specifics of the security guarantees and whether they would include the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine.
After the White House talks, Kiev proposed buying $90 billion worth of weapons from the US, including aircraft and air defence systems. The US arms package will cover "on the second provision of the guarantees", Zelenský explained.
In a bilateral meeting with Trump, Zelensky (whose presidential term expires on May 20, 2024) said he was open to holding elections in Ukraine, but only after the fighting ends. European leaders and NATO chief
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the idea of a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, the US and Ukraine. However, in his view, there is also a need for a quadrilateral meeting involving Europe.
Macron said the White House event discussed the possibility of tightening sanctions against Russia. He also noted that European leaders and Trump expect direct communication between Putin and Zelensky in the coming days or weeks.
However, Macron said the meeting did not touch on territorial issues because it focused on security guarantees. Macron said that the fact that the US had expressed "clear commitment" to participate in the provision of security guarantees to Ukraine, represents "important progress".
As for guarantees, the French leader expressed the view that Ukraine will have to be able to maintain an army of hundreds of thousands of troops while Kiev's allies train, equip and fund it for a longer period of time.
Unlike Trump, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed the need to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine before the next phase of peace talks. In addition, Merz believes that pressure needs to be put on Russia. He said that the Coalition of the Willing will hold a video conference and then a European Council meeting will take place.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Fox News after the White House talks that discussions on Ukraine will continue online. Rutte noted that while a path to NATO is irreversible for Ukraine, the issue is not currently on the agenda because the U.S. and some other countries oppose Ukraine's membership.
He also stated that zoning concessions were not discussed at the meeting. The NATO chief stressed that supplies of US weapons to Ukraine would continue and would be paid for "NATO partners in Europe".
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the meeting, he expressed confidence that European countries and the US are able to ensure real progress on the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine. Starmer sees a potential meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky as the next sensible step. Italian PM Giorgia Meloni called for unity in finding a way out of the Ukraine crisis. In her view, Trump has succeeded in launching a new phase of these efforts.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said after the meeting that the European Union and the United States would work out "strong security guarantees" for Ukraine.
President of Finland Alexander Stubb expressed the view that it would take approximately one week to work out the details of the safeguards.
According to the Washington Post, Zelensky "approximately eleven times he thanked Trump during the four and a half minutes he spoke to him publicly at several meetings". "Zelensky has made it clear that he has adapted in the six months since his last visit to the White House, which ended in 'disaster'," says the letter.
The Washington Post points out that Zelensky was not alone in praising the U.S. president because "European and NATO leaders repeatedly thanked and complimented Trump during the White House meeting".
TASS/gnews.cz - GH
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