5 Takeaways From Trump’s Meeting With Zelensky and European Leaders

The leaders presented a relatively united front and appeared to agree on the next steps in the effort to halt the fighting between Ukraine and Russia. But much remained unresolved.

President Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and European leaders at the White House on Monday, in a cordial but inconclusive push to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Much of the meeting focused on what security guarantees the European nations and the United States would provide Ukraine if Mr. Zelensky agreed to a deal to end the fighting. Mr. Trump also spoke to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to begin setting up a possible direct meeting between Mr. Zelensky and the Russian leader, though it was not clear when or even whether such a session would come about.

Here are five takeaways from the meeting.

The leaders presented a relatively united front.

Three days after Mr. Trump gave Mr. Putin a literal red carpet welcome at their meeting in Alaska and abandoned several key positions he had staked out beforehand, he presided over a discussion with America’s traditional allies in which the participants largely emphasized common ground.

Some differences broke through. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany argued for a cease-fire to be put in place before further negotiations with Russia, but was gently rebuffed by Mr. Trump. And President Emmanuel Macron of France suggested he was skeptical that Mr. Putin was dealing in good faith. “I am not convinced that President Putin also wants peace,” he told reporters at a news conference.

But there were no blowups of the sort that ended a previous visit by Mr. Zelensky to the White House. All the participants appeared to agree with a plan to arrange direct talks between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin while other issues are worked out, such as the precise nature of the security guarantees for Ukraine and what if any territory Ukraine might be willing to cede.

Trump spoke only in vague terms about security guarantees for Ukraine.

Mr. Trump said on social media that the meetings were fruitful and that the leaders discussed “security guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States.”

Earlier, while addressing reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump was asked whether the United States would send American troops to Ukraine as part of any peacekeeping effort. Mr. Trump did not answer the question directly, but said that the United States would “help them out.”

“We’ll be involved,” Mr. Trump said.

The European leaders pressed Mr. Trump on providing a security guarantee similar to NATO’s Article 5, meaning that an attack on Ukraine would be considered an attack on all NATO countries.

“We will give them very good protection and very good security,” Mr. Trump said.

When asked what kind of security guarantees he wanted, Mr. Zelensky said: “Everything.”

Trump engaged in some shuttle diplomacy with Putin.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. once referred to Mr. Putin as a “murderous dictator,” but Mr. Trump has long held a more positive view of the Russian president.

On Monday, Mr. Trump continued to portray Mr. Putin as genuinely interested in finding a way to end the war he had started. At one point, Mr. Trump broke off his session with the European leaders in the East Room of the White House to call the Russian leader.

Afterward, Mr. Trump brought Mr. Zelensky and the European leaders into the Oval Office to describe his discussion with Mr. Putin, according to President Alexander Stubb of Finland.

Russia and Ukraine will work on a possible Putin-Zelensky meeting.

Mr. Trump said in a social media post that he had called Mr. Putin to begin arranging a meeting between Mr. Zelensky and the Russian leader. He said he would then seek to meet with both leaders in a trilateral session.

But it was unclear if all the parties were on board.

Yuri Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy aide, said in a statement that Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump had a “frank and very constructive” phone conversation about the meeting with Mr. Zelensky and the European leaders at the White House. In diplomatic shorthand, “frank” often signals that the two sides did not fully agree.

The statement said the Russian and American leaders had agreed to appoint more senior negotiators for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, but did not mention whether Mr. Putin himself would participate.

While Mr. Putin has not refused outright to meet with Mr. Zelensky, he has made it clear that he does not consider the Ukrainian president either legitimate or his equal.

Zelensky said Ukraine would buy $90 billion of American arms.

Mr. Trump has said that he does not want to provide more aid to Ukraine, but that he is willing to sell arms to help the Ukrainians fend off the Russian assault. Mr. Zelensky expressed particular interest on Monday in acquiring more Patriot air-defense systems to help minimize the damage from relentless Russian missile attacks.

Mr. Zelensky told reporters on Monday that as part of any security guarantees, Ukraine would buy $90 billion in American weapons through Europe, and that the United States would buy drones from Ukraine. He said that a formal agreement still had to be arranged. But a deal of that scale would be a substantial step toward assuring that Ukrainian forces continue fighting against Russia and have a robust defense in place should a peace deal be reached.

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