Shafaqna India: United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that if his meeting with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky went well, he expected to hold a trilateral meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin with the goal of ending the Ukraine-Russia war.
Trump is pushing Ukraine to make major concessions following his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week, saying Kyiv must give up Crimea and abandon its Nato ambitions. Those are two of Moscow’s top demands.
But Zelensky, who huddled with the Europeans before they all went to the White House to meet Trump, urged Trump to bring “peace through strength” against Russia and stressed the need for United States security guarantees.
“We’re going to have a meeting. I think if everything works out well today, we’ll have a trilat (trilateral summit) and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that,” said Trump, sitting alongside Zelensky at the White House.
“I just spoke to President Putin indirectly and we’re going to have a phone call right after these meetings today.”
Zelensky thanked Trump for hosting the talks, which will be expanded to include European leaders later in the day. “Thank you for [the] invitation and thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war,” he said.
Fielding questions from reporters, Trump said that Washington will be involved in providing security guarantees as part of a peace agreement on ending Russia’s war.
European countries are “the first line of defence because they are there, they are Europe, we’re going to help them out also. We’ll be involved”, he stated.
However, the US president repeated his view that a ceasefire was not necessary to end the Russia-Ukraine war, echoing earlier comments that brought his position more in line with Putin.
“I don’t think you need a ceasefire,” Trump said. “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. You have a ceasefire and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild and you know maybe they don’t want that.”
Trump welcomed Zelensky to the White House, saying, “We love them,” when asked what his message was to the people of Ukraine after shaking Zelensky’s hand.
He also complimented Zelensky on his smart black jacket, after the Ukrainian was criticised by right-wing media for failing to wear a suit during a visit in February that ended in a shouting match.
Earlier, European leaders began arriving at the White House ahead of the high-stakes talks, with Nato chief Mark Rutte, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer being among the first to arrive.
