US President Donald Trump on Monday said Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed during summit talks last week to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace deal.
“In a very significant step, President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine and this is one of the key points that we need to consider and we're going to be considering that at the table, also who will do what essentially,” Trump said as he opened talks with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
Trump added that European nations would bear much of the responsibility for these guarantees. “I think the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden. We're going to help them and we're going to make it very secure," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered a positive assessment of the discussions. “We had a very good conversation with President Trump, and it really was the best one -- or, sorry, maybe the best one will be in the future," Zelensky said during an expanded meeting with European leaders.
Zelensky signalled openness to trilateral talks with Putin, saying the discussions would cover matters of territory. Before the start of talks with Zelensky and European leaders, Trump had signalled possibility of a trilateral meeting, "if everything works out well today."
Trump earlier today raised hopes of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia as he gave Zelensky a friendly welcome for high-stakes talks at the White House.
The meeting was the first since an acrimonious row between the two men in the Oval Office in February, and came just days after Trump held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Despite an apparent gulf over concessions that Trump has pushed Ukraine to make to Russia, the US leader said there was a "good chance" of ending the conflict sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
He said he would be talking to Putin by telephone later Monday and hoped for a three-way meeting with the Kremlin leader and Zelensky.
Zelensky, who came backed by a phalanx of top European leaders, praised Trump.
"Thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war," he said.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and the European Commission and NATO were at the White House in a show of support for Ukraine, as Trump pushed Kyiv to give up Crimea and abandon its goals of joining NATO.
With Zelensky pushing for Western security guarantees to back up any peace deal with Russia, Trump said the United States would be "involved" in Ukraine's future security.
Trump, 79, would not say if US troops could help with such guarantees but said that "we'll let you know that maybe later today."
Reports earlier had said Putin would be open to Western security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of any peace deal, but had ruled out Kyiv's long-term ambition to join NATO.
Trump, ahead of the meeting, reiterated that he does not think a ceasefire is necessary for negotiating an end to the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of its pro-Western neighbor in February 2022.
Macron calls for four-way summit
French President Emmanuel Macron called for a four-way meeting including Europeans in response to Trump's hopes of bringing together the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
"I think as a follow up we would need probably a quadrilateral meeting, because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent," Macron said at the White House meeting bringing together European leaders, Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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