US President Donald Trump raised hopes of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia on Monday, August 18, as he gave President Volodymyr Zelensky a friendly welcome for high-stakes talks at the White House. The meeting is the first since an acrimonious row between the two men in the Oval Office in February, and comes just days after Trump held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
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. He said he would be talking to Putin by telephone later Monday and hoped for a three-way meeting with the Kremlin leader and Zelensky.
“I think if everything works out well today we’ll have a trilat, and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that,” said Trump, sitting in the Oval alongside Zelensky.
Zelensky, who came backed by a phalanx of top European leaders, praised Trump. “Thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war,” he said. He also brought a letter for Melania Trump from his wife, Olena, thanking the US first lady for writing to Putin and urging him to save children’s lives.
Meanwhile, leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and the European Commission and NATO were at the White House in a show of support for Ukraine, as Trump pushed Kyiv to give up Crimea and abandon its goals of joining NATO. They were due to meet with Trump shortly.
‘Grateful’ for US support
The atmosphere was far calmer than when Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky in front of TV cameras less than six months ago for not being “grateful” for US support. Trump even complimented Zelensky on his black jacket, after the Ukrainian was criticized by right-wing media because he failed to change his trademark war-leader’s outfit for a suit during the February visit.
“I love it,” said Trump, pointing to Zelensky’s outfit as they shook hands on the Ukrainian president’s arrival at the West Wing.
The lighthearted exchange, however, belied the fact that Kyiv and its allies had been fearful that Trump was, once again, pivoting towards Putin’s views following the Alaska summit. With Zelensky pushing for Western security guarantees to back up any peace deal with Russia, Trump said the United States would be “involved” in Ukraine’s future security. Trump, 79, would not say if US troops could help with such guarantees but said that “we’ll let you know that maybe later today.”
A little later on Monday, Trump said Putin had at summit talks last week accepted that there would be security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace deal.
“In a very significant step, President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine and this is one of the key points that we need to consider and we’re going to be considering that at the table, also who will do what essentially,” said Trump as he opened talks with European leaders and Zelensky at the White House.
“I think the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden. We’re going to help them and we’re going to make it very secure,” he said.
