President Trump and European leaders met at the White House to push for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. However, details on what such an agreement might entail remained elusive. Trump announced he had called Russian President Vladimir Putin and is working on arranging a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A time and location for the meeting are yet to be determined. High-stakes discussions involved talks of establishing a ceasefire as a peace agreement and what security guarantees for Ukraine would look like. European officials credited Trump for opening up a path to peace, and Zelensky repeatedly thanked Trump for his efforts to stop the war.
European leaders appeared to support the idea of a trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and Putin, though some stressed the importance of getting some type of ceasefire or commitment from Russia before that meeting takes place. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called a trilateral meeting to end the war “the sensible next step,” insisting that peace for Ukraine has to involve Ukraine. Trump has said it will be up to Ukraine to determine the issue of potential territorial concessions as part of any peace agreement, though he has at times indicated there will need to be “land swaps.” The overall tone of Monday’s meetings was markedly different from Zelensky’s last visit to Washington, when Trump and Vice President Vance accused him of being ungrateful for U.S. support and questioned his leverage in the war against Russia.
