At the White House, US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a host of European leaders to discuss a peace deal to end Russia-Ukraine war.
Two separate meetings were held at the White House: first, between Trump and Zelenskyy, and then a second meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy, NATO and European leaders, and the presidents of five NATO nations, according to the US Department of Defence press release.
The talks come on the heels of the Aug. 15, 2025, meeting in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The meeting involved Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, PM Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Finland’s Alexander Stubb, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission.
Trump has promised that the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine. The US leader said that there would be some form of security guarantees for Ukraine, but did not reveal whether this would involve US troops.
He said, “The Alaska Summit made me realise that while difficult, peace is within reach. In a significant development, President Putin agreed to accept security guarantees for Ukraine, a key point we must consider. We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact, that is, the war zone… We are going to try to get a three-party meeting with President Putin and President Zelenskyy, as soon as we can,” he said.
Trump said there did not need to be a ceasefire in Ukraine, because a peace deal could be worked out while Ukraine and Russia are at war.
“Ultimately ,this is a decision that can only be made by President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine…The six or so wars that we have stopped, we haven’t had a ceasefire, and I don’t know if it’s necessary, and you can do it through the war… I believe that a peace agreement at the end of all this is something that is attainable and it could be done in the near future,” he said.
Trump further added, “I have just had the honour of being with President Zelenskyy and had extensive discussions. I spoke indirectly with President Putin today, and I will also discuss this further with him after this meeting. We will try to work out a trilateral and see if we can put this to sleep.”
Trump said that through these talks, he intends to save people from dying.
“If we have a good meeting today, I will set up a meeting with President Putin, and if you want, I will go to that meeting. Not that I want to do that, but I will do that because we want to save a lot of people from dying,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appreciated the talks with US President Donald Trump and thanked all the leaders for the security guarantees to Ukraine.
He said, “We had a very good conversation with President Trump. It was a good one but the best is yet to come. We discussed sensitive points, starting with security guarantees… The security in Ukraine depends on the United States, on you, and those leaders who are with us… All of us want to finish this war… It is very important that the US gives such strong signals and is ready for security guarantees,” he said.
Zelenskyy also thanked the US First Lady for the letter on abducted children and her sensitivity.
“I want to thank the First Lady for that letter for our abducted children… All the sensitive things and everything else will be discussed in the trilateral meeting and President Trump will try to organise this meeting. Ukraine will be happy if you are part of the meeting… We need our people back,” he said.
Trump said that Putin also wished to see some positive moves.
He said, “You’ll see that President Putin really would want to do something also… When we meet up, I think you will see some really positive moves… We will set that up after today’s meeting…”
NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, thanked Trump for breaking the ice with Putin and starting the dialogue.
He said, “I want to thank you, President of the US, Donald Trump for breaking the deadlock with President Putin by starting that dialogue… If we play this well, we could end the war and we have to end it. We have to stop the killing and destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure… I want to thank you for your leadership… Your willingness to participate in the security guarantees is a significant step. It is a breakthrough and it makes all the difference…”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni thanked Trump for his initiative after three years of deadlock. She also called for unity among the leaders to solve the crisis.
“It is an important day and a new phase after three years of no sign from the Russian side of any willingness for a dialogue. Something is changing, something has changed, thanks to you… We also have to remind that if we want to reach peace and if we want to guarantee justice, we have to do it united,” she said.
His comments were welcomed by the European leaders, with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, saying it was “good to hear” the nations were working on “Article Five-like security guarantees”.
NATO’s Article Five is the principle that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all of them.
Trump also said that during the meetings, discussion topics would need to include what each nation is willing to give up to achieve peace.
“We … need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact — that means the war zone … to look at them and negotiating positions,” Trump said.
(ANI)
