Trump-Zelensky Meeting: US Backs Security Guarantees, Arranges Russia-Ukraine Direct Talks
The US President, Donald Trump, met Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, and a group of European leaders at the White House to discuss an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
The leaders expressed optimism about the prospects of finding a way to end the war as Trump said the US would support European security guarantees to Ukraine and arrange an in-person meeting between Zelensky and Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
Trump-Zelensky Meeting
Days after Trump and Putin met in Alaska, Zelensky, and the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the European Commission and NATO, flew to Washington to meet with the US President, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Trump ruled out the idea of Ukraine joining NATO. However, he said that the US would back European efforts to guarantee Ukraine’s security and prevent future Russian attacks. European countries “want to give protection and they feel very strongly about it and we’ll help them out with that,” he said.
“During the meeting we discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, which guarantees would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
When asked about the possibility of sending American troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping effort, Trump did not rule it out, according to BBC. He pointed out that Europe was the “first line of defense”, but that the US “will be involved.”
“We will give them very good protection and very good security,” Trump added.
Security Guarantees
The Ukrainian leader told reporters that security guarantees for Kyiv would take 7-10 days to be worked out. He revealed that they would involve a $90bn arms deal between the US and Ukraine, including US aviation and anti-missile systems.
Moreover, the guarantees would include allied commitments and the development of Ukraine’s defense industry, Zelensky added.
In the light of this, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, said that the “most important” outcome of the meeting was the “US commitment to work with us on providing security guarantees.”
Putin-Zelensky Meeting
During their meeting on Monday, Trump called Putin and said later that he would begin arrangements for an in-person meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders, without revealing details about the time and place of such meeting.
“I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” he added.
Russia’s Unclear Stance
Russia’s response to the possible Putin-Zelensky meeting was noncommittal. According to Russian news agency TASS, the Kremlin Aide, Yury Ushakov, said that the conversation between Trump and Putin lasted for about 40 minutes, during which they discussed continuing direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv and the possibility of increasing their level.
Zelensky, on his part, said he was ready to meet Putin without any preconditions. “I confirmed, and all leaders supported me, that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin,” he said.
Territorial Concessions
Following Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Reuters reported that Russia proposed a new deal for ending the war, which includes Ukraine’s full withdrawal from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in exchange for a Russian pledge to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Moscow has long adhered to its demands to end the war in Ukraine, including Kyiv ceding control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that Russia annexed in 2022, in addition to Crimea – demands that Ukraine firmly rejects.
However, the issue of territorial concessions had not been discussed at the White House Monday meeting, according to Macron and NATO chief, Mark Rutte, as the talks focused on security guarantees.
With regards to this, Trump suggested that Russian and Ukrainian leaders should discuss a potential ceasefire and the exchange of territories in a face-to-face meeting. “We’re going to let the president go over and talk to the president and we’ll see how that works out,” Trump said during his meeting with Zelensky and the European leaders.
