President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump expressed hope that critical talks between Ukrainian and European leaders at the White House on Monday, August 18 could lead to trilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to Russia's war on Ukraine.
“If everything works out today, we’ll have a trilat," Trump said, referring to possible three-way talks among Zelensky, Putin and Trump. "We’re going to work with Russia, we’re going to work with Ukraine.” Zelensky also expressed openness to trilateral talks. “We are ready for trilateral,” Zelensky said at the start of his meeting with Trump. "I think this is very good.” Trump also said he plans to talk to Putin after his meetings with Zelensky and European leaders.
After one-on-one talks, Trump and Zelensky are scheduled to gather with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Trump said that he and Zelensky would be discussing potential security guarantees for Ukraine with the European leaders. “They want to give protection,” Trump said of European allies. “They feel very strongly about it and we’ll help them out with it. I think it’s very important.”
Monday's hastily assembled meeting comes after Trump met with Putin on Friday and has said that the onus is now on Zelensky to agree to concessions that he said could end the war. The European leaders were left out of that summit, and they want to safeguard Ukraine and the continent from any widening aggression from Moscow. Many arrived at the White House with the explicit goal of protecting Ukraine’s interests in a rare show of diplomatic force. By coming as a group, they hope to avoid debacles like Zelensky’s February meeting in the Oval Office, where Trump chastised the Ukrainian leader for not showing enough gratitude for US military aid.
On the table for discussion are possible NATO-like security guarantees that Ukraine would need for any peace with Russia to be durable. Putin opposes Ukraine joining NATO outright, yet Trump's team claims the Russian leader is open to allies agreeing to defend Ukraine if it comes under attack.