Trump welcomes Zelensky, European leaders to White House with optimism on peace deal

Meeting takes place after US president’s summit with Vladimir Putin; Trump pushes trilateral meeting between the leaders and says US would help Europe provide security for Ukraine

US President Donald Trump voiced support for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia on Monday, as he gave President Volodymyr Zelensky a friendly welcome for high-stakes talks at the White House.

The two leaders also expressed hope that the critical meeting in Washington, DC, which included European leaders, could lead to three-party talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the three-and-a-half-year war.

And Trump said that the US would help Europe provide security for Ukraine as part of any deal to halt the fighting.

Trump stopped short of committing US troops to the effort, saying instead that there would be a “NATO-like” security presence. He added that details would be hashed out in the men’s afternoon meeting with EU leaders.

“They want to give protection and they feel very strongly about it and we’ll help them out with that,” Trump said. “I think its very important to get the deal done.”

Monday’s gathering had a strikingly different feel from the last Trump-Zelensky Oval Office meeting in February. That was a disastrous moment that led to Trump abruptly ending talks with the Ukrainian delegation after he and Vice President JD Vance complained that Zelensky had shown insufficient gratitude for US military assistance.

The hastily assembled meeting came after Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Friday. He said that the onus is now on Zelensky to agree to concessions of land that he said could end the war.

“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.”

Trump also said he plans to talk to Putin after his meetings with Zelensky and European leaders. He said he expected Putin to release over 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners soon after the trilateral meeting.

“I think you’ll see that President Putin really would like to do something also,” Trump said at the start of the meeting.

Zelensky expressed openness to trilateral talks. “We are ready for trilateral, as [the] president said,” Zelensky said.

He also praised Trump: “Thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war,” he said.

Zelensky described the talks at the White House as “very serious” and sought to flatter Trump by echoing his trademark “peace through strength” language.

“President Trump has that strength. We have to do everything right to make peace happen,” he said.

Despite an apparent gulf over concessions that Trump has pushed Ukraine to make to Russia, the US leader said there was a “good chance” of ending the conflict sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

But he also suggested to reporters that he no longer believed reaching a ceasefire was a necessary prerequisite for striking a peace agreement, backing a position staked out by Putin and opposed by Zelensky and most European leaders.

Reports had said Putin would be open to Western security guarantees for Ukraine, in the event of any peace deal, but had ruled out Kyiv’s long-term ambition to join NATO.

“When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help,” Trump told reporters, adding that European countries would be involved. “They are a first line of defense because they’re there, but we’ll help them out.”

Zelensky has already all but rejected the outline of Putin’s proposals from the Alaska meeting. Those include handing over the remaining quarter of its eastern Donetsk region, which is largely controlled by Russia. Ukrainian forces are deeply dug into the region, whose towns and hills serve as a crucial defensive zone to stymie Russian attacks.

Any concession of Ukrainian territory would have to be approved by a referendum.

On Monday, Trump first held one-on-one talks with Zelensky. The two then planned 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.

The European leaders were left out of Trump’s summit with Putin. 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 — a rare show of diplomatic force.

On the table for discussion with European leaders are possible NATO-like security guarantees that Ukraine would need for any peace with Russia to be durable. Trump’s team claims Putin is open to allies agreeing to defend Ukraine if it comes under attack.

”Clearly, there are no easy solutions when talking about ending a war and building peace,” Meloni told reporters. “We have to explore all possible solutions to guarantee peace, to guarantee justice, and to guarantee security for our countries.”

Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who is also leading efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, said the US and its allies could offer Ukraine a NATO-like commitment to defend the country if it came under attack, with details to be worked out.

The European leaders aimed to keep the focus during the White House talks on finding a sustainable peace and believe forging a temporary ceasefire is not off the table, according to a European official.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the leaders are also looking to keep pressure on Russia to end the fighting and want to get more concrete assurances from the US about security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any deal.

European officials confirmed that Trump told them Putin is still seeking control of the entire Donbas region, even though Ukraine controls a meaningful share of it.

Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Trump suggested that Ukraine could not regain Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed in 2014, setting off an armed conflict that led to its broader 2022 invasion.

“President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump wrote Sunday night on social media. “Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!”

Zelensky responded with his own post late Sunday, saying, “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably.” He said that “peace must be lasting,” not as it was after Russia seized Crimea and part of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine eight years ago, and “Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack.”

Zelensky, at the start of the meeting, presented a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, for Trump’s wife, Melania. The US first lady over the weekend sent a letter to Putin urging him to bring an end to the brutal war.

Trump at one point needled Zelensky over Ukraine delaying elections. They had been scheduled for last year, but were delayed because of the ongoing Russian invasion. Ukrainian law does not allow presidential elections to be held when martial law is in effect.

Trump joked that a similar circumstance would not play well in the US.

“So let me just say three and a half years from now — so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections, oh, I wonder what the fake news would say,” Trump said.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.