Trump Responds To Meeting With Zelensky, European Leaders
President Donald Trump has issued a statement following a historic meeting in the White House on Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders in another attempt to end the more than three-year-old conflict with Russia.
“I had a very good meeting with distinguished guests, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, President Alexander Stubb, of Finland, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United Kingdom, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Friedrich Merz, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, in the White House, which ended in a further meeting in the Oval Office,” Trump began on Truth Social.
“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,” he said. “Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine.
“At the conclusion of the meetings, 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. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.”
He concluded: “Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine.”
The various European leaders who attended also issued short statements following the meeting.
“I think that we had a very good conversation with President Trump… it was really good. We spoke about very sensitive points,” Zelensky said.
“I really want to thank you, President of the United States, dear Donald, for the fact that you, as I said before, broke the deadlock basically with President Putin by starting the dialogue … From there, here we are today,” added Rutte.
Stubbe noted: “I think in the past two weeks, we’ve probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past three-and-a-half years.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was also in attendance, noted of Trump, “It is an important day — a new phase — after three years that we didn’t see any kind of sign from the Russian side that they were willing for dialogue, so something is changing — something has changed — thanks to you.”
Starmer added: “I think today will be seen as a very important day in recent years in relation to a conflict which has gone on for three-and-a-bit years, and so far, nobody has been able to bring it to this point — so I thank you for that.”
The White House confab came on the heels of a peace summit Trump held in Alaska last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his comments, Merz referenced that meeting, saying, “This is extremely helpful that we are meeting and hearing that the two of you are having such a good meeting today … The path is open. You opened it last Friday — but now the way is open for complicated negotiations.”
Von der Layen noted as well, “We had a fantastic NATO Summit… We had the largest trade deal ever — agreed. And now, we are here to work together with you on a… lasting peace for Ukraine. Stop the killing. This is really our common interest.”
Macron added: “Thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this meeting and for your commitment… everybody around this table is in favor of peace… this is why the idea of a trilateral meeting is very important because this is the only way to fix it.”
