President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet Donald Trump on Monday as he and European allies push for a trilateral summit with Vladimir Putin despite signs the Russian leader isn’t open to concessions to end the war in Ukraine.
“Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace,” Zelenskiy said in a social media post after a call with Trump on Saturday. Trump confirmed the Ukrainian president’s visit to Washington in a Truth Social post, and said a meeting with Putin and Zelenskiy could be scheduled “if all works out.”
Zelenskiy and European leaders spoke with Trump as the US president flew back from Friday’s talks in Alaska with Putin that failed to deliver a path to end the war, currently halfway through its fourth year. Still, Trump called his meeting productive, and signaled he would tell Zelenskiy to make a deal.
Trump said on the call that while it’s up to Ukraine to decide on what to do with its territory, Putin’s stance hasn’t changed — he still wants Kyiv to cede control of the entire Donbas region in Ukraine’s east, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition on anonymity.
Zelenskiy has repeatedly ruled out giving up all of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Moscow’s forces only partially control and have so far failed to take militarily. Russia would halt advancing its claims over the parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson region it doesn’t now control, effectively freezing the battle-lines there, the people said.
Trump told the leaders that he was prepared to contribute to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security as long as it didn’t involve NATO, they added. The president suggested Putin would be OK with that, the people said.
The US president said in the post that his meeting with Putin and the call with Zelenskiy both went “very well.” Trump wrote that “it was determined by all” that the best way to end the war was to achieve a peace agreement and “not a mere Ceasefire Agreement.”
The statement comes after Trump said previously that a ceasefire would be his key demand of Putin at the summit. He also threatened to walk out of the meeting and to impose new tough punitive measures if it wasn’t met.
Monday’s visit to the White House raises the stakes for Zelenskiy, who’s had an uneasy relationship with Trump. His last visit in the Oval Office in February descended in a shouting match between the two leaders and briefly led to the US pausing military aid to Ukraine, which undercut the country’s fighting capabilities.
Trump and Zelenskiy have since met repeatedly, including at the NATO leaders summit in Hague and at the Vatican, and patched up their ties.
European officials welcomed Trump’s efforts during their call with the US president. They also reiterated the need for a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskiy in a statement released on Saturday. That statement made no mention of earlier demands for an immediate ceasefire as a first step toward negotiations.
The topic of a trilateral summit wasn’t raised in Alaska, Russia’s state TV channel Vesti reported on Saturday, citing Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.
European leaders also said that it will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. “International borders must not be changed by force,” according to the statement, signed by the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Finland, Poland the UK and the president of the European Commission.
Some European officials are concerned that Trump will now pressure Zelenskiy to make territorial concessions to reach a deal, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
“President Trump’s resolve to get a peace deal is vital,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. “But the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon.”
Putin continues to drag out negotiations and “left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing,” Kallas said.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the Alaskan summit, Trump said that there were a few sticking points remaining after his discussion with Putin, even as he cautioned that the two hadn’t reached a deal, and shifted his focus to Zelenskiy, saying it was up to him to resolve the war.
“We are clear that Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “no limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries,” the statement from European leaders said. “Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and NATO.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Telegram Saturday morning that Russia launched 85 drones and a ballistic missile at Ukrainian territory overnight, underscoring Moscow’s intention to press on with the war. “On the day of negotiations, the Russians are killing as well. And that speaks volumes,” Zelenskiy said on X.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Telegram that Friday’s Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska showed that negotiations are possible even as the fighting continues.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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