Ukraine is looking for real security guarantees.

Trump touts successful Zelenskyy meeting and says he’s arranging one with Putin

President Trump wants fast progress toward peace, but Ukraine is looking for real security guarantees.

By Eli Stokols and Felicia Schwartz

President Donald Trump said Monday following a remarkable day of shuttle diplomacy that arrangements were beginning for a meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine that, if successful, could be a substantial move toward ending the conflict between the two countries.

After cordial, seemingly constructive meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and seven other European leaders at the White House that focused on how to guarantee Ukraine’s future security, Trump telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to arrange a summit between the two leaders, whose countries have been at war since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

With Zelenskyy and the European leaders still at the White House and preparing to continue talks over a light dinner, Trump announced on social media that a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin would be followed by a trilateral meeting that he would also attend. “This was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” he wrote.

Trump added that postwar security guarantees for Ukraine would be provided by several European countries, with “coordination with the United States of America.”

Trump’s willingness to play a role in solidifying Ukraine’s long-term security was a notable shift, and further evidence of how much the president’s position on the war has evolved in the nearly six months since Zelenskyy’s last visit to the White House.

But despite months of efforts by Zelenskyy and European leaders to flatter Trump into closer alignment, daylight remained. Trump broke with European allies set on a ceasefire and continued to insist that Putin, who has shown no interest in making concessions to bring about peace, was genuine in wanting to make a deal.

Trump has directed his team to begin diplomacy to set the process underway. To begin figuring out the details of the security guarantees, chiefs of defense from the so-called coalition of the willing are expected to meet this week, according to three European officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading the overall security guarantees coordination effort to prepare for the trilateral, according to three people familiar with the matter.

In an interview on Fox News after the meetings, Rubio said Trump had suggested the bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky. He said it was significant that Putin agreed to it.

“The fact that Putin is saying, sure, I’ll meet with Zelenskyy — that’s a big deal,” Rubio said. So far Putin has rebuffed American calls for the two to meet one-on-one, not wanting to bolster the position of a leader he has demanded be removed. One of the European officials said it would be up to Putin to show he is serious.

Shortly after leaving the White House, Zelenskyy told reporters that he was ready to meet Putin in any format but that no date was set for a meeting.

Both Trump and Zelenskyy characterized their one-on-one Oval Office meeting ahead of the European coalition’s larger gathering in the East Room as a positive and constructive discussion about potential security guarantees. European leaders suggested the guarantees would need to be similar to Article V of the NATO charter, which deems an attack on any member nation to be an attack on all.

But as those leaders addressed Trump, crediting him for making progress in pushing for peace, they also stressed the importance of a ceasefire ahead of a potential trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy and Putin.

“Let’s try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of these efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today, are depending on at least a ceasefire,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. French President Emmanuel Macron echoed Merz moments later, calling a ceasefire “a necessity.”

They were joined by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Trump, who’d backed a ceasefire until his three-hour meeting with Putin last Friday in Alaska, continued to hedge on the subject. “If we can do a ceasefire, great,” Trump said, suggesting that it would be up to Zelenskyy and Putin to work that out.

The unprecedented gathering of eight leaders at the White House, organized just two days following Trump’s sit-down with Putin, clarified the level of European support for Ukraine, their recognition of Trump’s convening power and his serious interest in bringing the war to a close — but also a shared, if largely unstated, concern about the unpredictable president’s willingness to trust Putin and possibly accept his terms.

As leaders offered opening remarks with the press in the room, they lauded Trump’s efforts and emphasized their shared desire for peace, but only one that would endure and prevent future Russian incursions into Ukraine. After meeting privately with Zelenskyy and the European leaders, Trump, who’s made no secret of his desire to mediate a Zelenskyy-Putin summit as soon as possible, left the room to call Putin and had what one person familiar with the meetings described as “a reasonably long” discussion.

Afterward, Trump invited the group to move from the East Room to the Oval Office for a debrief on his call with Putin, and leaders discussed remaining at the White House into the evening to continue talks over dinner, said the person, who was granted anonymity to share details about the meetings.

Stubb, during an interview on CNN after leaving the White House, said that Trump gave the leaders in the Oval a “very thorough” readout of his conversation with Putin and that his decision to call the Russian leader after their East Room conversation had been discussed and didn’t come as a surprise. “It was very coordinated, very constructive,” he said, emphasizing that Europe and the U.S. working in tandem is essential to Ukraine’s survival. “If we work on the security guarantees, that will guarantee sovereignty and it will strengthen territorial integrity as well,” he said.

Rutte, in an interview on Fox News from the White House North Lawn, credited Trump as “pragmatic” and said there are 30 countries working on firming up security guarantees.

Merz, in a press conference at a nearby hotel after leaving the White House, said the meeting exceeded his expectations. The discussion, he said, focused largely on security guarantees and did not touch on any territorial matters that would be at the center of an eventual peace deal.

While he pushed Zelenskyy on social media in recent days to make concessions to achieve peace, Trump signaled a new openness to backing Ukraine long-term shortly after welcoming the country’s embattled president back to the White House.

“We will give them very good protection — very good security. That’s part of it,” Trump told reporters at the start of the bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy. And he refused to say that if they failed to quickly reach a peace deal, that would mean the “end of the road” for U.S. aid to Ukraine. “I would not say it’s the end of the road. People are being killed.”

Nearly six months after being berated in the same room for a lack of gratitude, Zelenskyy thanked Trump three times in his initial remarks and again later, specifically, for allowing Europe to buy American-made weapons on his country’s behalf. Determined to avoid more setbacks, Ukraine’s president wore a modified black suit and joked with the Trump-friendly reporter who chided him back in February for being under-dressed. More importantly, Zelenskyy brought seven European leaders with him, all determined to ensure that their security concerns aren’t overlooked.

Asked what kind of security guarantees he was looking for from the U.S., Zelenskyy was succinct: “Everything,” he replied.

Addressing the media a second time in the East Room, Zelenskyy characterized his conversation with Trump as “constructive” and “specific,” even calling it “the best one” the two leaders have had.

But for all of Trump’s avidity, and the outward deference of Europeans and Zelenskyy himself, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart. Putin, who continues to speak of Ukraine as an existential threat to Russia, has floated a plan to end the war if Ukraine cedes more of the Donbas region to Russia, including territory Putin’s military doesn’t currently occupy.

Trump, who went into his meeting with Putin last Friday broadly aligned with Ukraine and Europe in pushing for a ceasefire as a prerequisite for peace talks, has quickly shifted that stance. In the days since leaving Alaska, the president has stated that he now believes a ceasefire, which Putin opposes, isn’t necessary first and that the two sides should move right into the harder negotiations to end the conflict permanently.

He stuck to that position on Monday, even as he toned down his strident social media messaging to adopt a more even-handed stance conveying more support for Ukraine’s position.

“I don’t think you need a ceasefire,” Trump said, referencing “six deals” he’s helped seal with other warring countries that he noted didn’t include ceasefires.

Zelenskyy and the European leaders firmly believe that allowing Russia to continue the bombing of Ukrainian cities while dangling the possibility of a diplomatic settlement to Trump offers Putin a major advantage — and little incentive to change tacks.

Trump could have an opening if Zelenskyy agrees to freeze the conflict along the current battle lines. A Ukrainian familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations, indicated that Zelenskyy would likely be willing to accept such terms, which would result in Russia acquiring some of Ukraine’s territory, but that he’ll reject Putin’s more audacious proposal to take additional Ukrainian territory Russian troops don’t currently hold.

According to a Ukrainian official familiar with the negotiations, Zelenskyy is eager to find out the details of potential security guarantees that could be included in an eventual deal.

“We will not recognize the occupation. The situation regarding compromises is broader, but we will not withdraw our troops,” said another Ukrainian official familiar with negotiations and granted anonymity to discuss them. “We will find out what details of possible security guarantees and whether Trump seriously pressured Putin into a trilateral format where everything can really be discussed.”

Trump and Putin said little following their meeting about the specifics of their discussion. According to the White House official, Putin didn’t agree to any specific security guarantees for Ukraine, but signaled that he “understands that security guarantees have to be on the table for the Ukrainians.”