WASHINGTON, Aug. 19– The White House rarely hosts so many foreign dignitaries at once as it did on Monday, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders arrived to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The latest talks came three days after the U.S. and Russian presidents met in the U.S. state of Alaska, when progress was reportedly made but no deal was announced.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Finnish President Alexander Stubb attended the talks after a bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelensky earlier in the day.
The Monday meetings at the White House mainly focused on security guarantees for Ukraine and a possible trilateral meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Disagreements remain on some key issues, such as whether a ceasefire is necessary before further negotiations.
SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE At his bilateral meeting with Zelensky, Trump was asked by the media whether the security guarantees for Ukraine would include U.S. troops. Trump did not respond directly, saying that he would later meet with European leaders to discuss the matter.
Trump said that European countries would all be involved and that Ukraine would receive a lot of help in terms of security. “They are the first line of defense because they’re there, but we’re going to help them out also. We’ll be involved,” Trump said, without specifying what support the United States would provide.
At a multilateral meeting among U.S., Ukrainian and European leaders later that day, “security guarantees” were mentioned nearly 20 times, reflecting the importance all parties attached to the issue.
Zelensky said that the parties will continue to discuss security guarantees and emphasized that it is very important that “the United States gives such a strong signal and is ready for security guarantees.”
Several European leaders referenced NATO’s Article 5 — the principle of collective defense among member states, saying they hope to use it as a model to propose related measures for Ukraine’s security guarantees.
After the White House meetings, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had “a very good meeting” with Ukrainian and European leaders.
“During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” he said.
Zelensky told the media after the meetings that the details of the security guarantees will be finalized within 10 days, noting that Ukraine has proposed purchasing approximately 90 billion dollars worth of U.S. weapons.
The Financial Times, meanwhile, reported on Monday that Ukraine has presented the United States with a proposal to purchase 100 billion worth of American weapons, to be financed by Kiev’s European partners.
POTENTIAL TRILATERAL MEETING Before Monday’s bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelensky, the Ukrainian president reiterated that he hopes to end the conflict with Russia through diplomatic means and said that Ukraine is ready for a trilateral meeting with the leaders of the United States and Russia, while Trump said he will be able to facilitate such a meeting if Monday’s talks go well and believes it could offer a “reasonable chance” to end the conflict.
Trump told reporters later at the start of the multilateral meeting with Ukrainian and European leaders that the next step would be to arrange the trilateral meeting.
“I just look forward to working and having a great result,” he said. Zelensky noted that all sensitive issues, including territorial matters, would be discussed by the three leaders during the planned meeting.
Macron said that a trilateral meeting is the only way to resolve the issue. He also suggested that a quadrilateral meeting might be needed after that.
“I think, as a follow-up, we need probably a quadrilateral meeting. Because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent,” he said.
In the social media post, Trump said that after the meetings, he called Putin and began arranging a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin, with the location to be determined.
He added that after the bilateral meeting, a trilateral meeting involving the U.S., Russian and Ukrainian leaders would take place.
German Chancellor Merz told the media after the meetings that Putin agreed to meet Zelensky within the next two weeks during a phone call with Trump.
DIFFERENCES REMAIN TO BE SOLVED Differences on some key topics continued to exist between U.S. and European leaders.
During the opening remarks to the media at the start of the multilateral meeting, Merz said that now the way is open for “complicated negotiations” and that all parties hoped to see a ceasefire.
Merz argued that a trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russian and Ukrainian leaders should not take place without a ceasefire.
“I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,” said Merz. Trump, however, responded that while achieving a ceasefire would be ideal, it’s not necessary.
“We just got into negotiations,” he said. At the start of the meeting with Zelensky, Trump told him, “I don’t think you need a ceasefire.” Territorial issues remain a key factor in the peace negotiations.
Trump said Sunday in a Truth Social post that Zelensky can end the conflict with Russia “almost immediately” if he wants to.
“No getting back Obama given Crimea…and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!” he wrote.
When asked by the media on Monday whether Ukraine is ready to “keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths for another couple of years” or “redraw the maps” in a peace deal, Zelensky did not answer directly.
He also emphasized on Monday that territorial issues will be decided between Russia and Ukraine. (Xinhua)
