Key events
If there was a sign that Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasn’t going to be immediately voted off the island of the Donald Trump diplomacy show, it came early on when a familiar voice commended his choice of attire, writes Andrew Roth in his sketch of how the White House meeting unfolded.
“President Zelenskyy, you look fabulous in that suit,” said Brian Glenn, a pro-Trump pundit and member of the White House press corps, who had attacked him for wearing military fatigues during the infamous Oval Office meeting in February. “I said the same thing,” Trump added.
“You are in the same suit,” Zelenskyy shot back, earning smiles and laughter from the room including the US president. “I changed, you did not.”
Thus did Zelenskyy survive his first media appearance at the White House with Trump on Monday as the US president focused less on belittling the leader of a wartime ally than boasting – and in many cases exaggerating – his exploits as a peacemaker in world conflicts.
You can read all of Roth’s piece here:
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy both said they hoped Monday’s gathering would eventually lead to three-way talks with Vladimir Putin, whose forces have been slowly grinding forward in eastern Ukraine.
In a social media post late on Monday, Trump said he had called the Russian leader and begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents.
Trump told European leaders that Putin suggested that sequence, Reuters cites a source in the European delegation as saying.
The Kremlin has not publicly announced its agreement, but a senior Trump administration official said the Putin-Zelenskyy meeting could take place in Hungary.
The pair will meet within the next two weeks, according to German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The last direct talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Turkey in June. Putin declined Zelenskyy’s public invitation to meet him face-to-face there and instead sent a low-level delegation.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after his Washington meeting with Donald Trump and European leaders that security guarantees for Ukraine would likely be worked out within 10 days, adding that they would include the purchase for Ukraine of a package of US weapons.
“There indeed is a package with our proposals worth $90bn,” the Ukrainian president said. “And we have agreements with the US president that when our export opens, they will buy Ukrainian drones. This is important for us.”
As Warren Murray writes in our latest Ukraine war briefing, reports earlier suggested that Ukraine would promise to buy $100bn of US weapons financed by Europe – lucrative for US suppliers – as part of a deal to get guarantees from the US for its security if there is a peace settlement with Russia.
The Financial Times added that Ukraine and the US would also strike a $50bn deal to produce drones with Ukrainian companies. The drone news may partly repeat recent similar announcements.
You can read the full briefing here:
British prime minister Keir Starmer has described the talks at the White House as “good and constructive” and said they produced “real progress”.
Speaking after the summit, Starmer said: “There was a real sense of unity between the European leaders that were there and President Trump and President Zelenskyy.”
Starmer highlighted “two material outcomes” from the talks – first, that the coalition of the willing “will now work with the US” on security guarantees.
“That’s really important for security in Ukraine, for security in Europe, and for security in the UK,” the prime minister said.
Starmer continued:
The other material outcome was the agreement that there will now be a bilateral agreement between President Putin and President Zelenskyy, that was after a phone call between President Trump and President Putin during the course of this afternoon, followed by a trilateral that will add in Trump.
That is a recognition of the principle that on some of these issues, whether it’s territory or the exchange of prisoners, or the very serious issue of the return of children, that is something where Ukraine must be at the table.
These were the two outcomes that were the most important coming out of today. They’re positive outcomes, there was a real sense of unity. We’ve made real progress today.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the latest diplomatic efforts to find an end to the war in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has agreed to face-to-face talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Donald Trump and European leaders, although the Kremlin has yet to confirm a meeting will take place.
After talks at the White House with the leaders of Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and Nato, the US president said he would coordinate security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a deal and claimed that arrangements were under way for a Zelenskyy-Putin meeting. He said a trilateral meeting would happen between the two, along with Trump, after that.
Finnish president Alexander Stubb said the main agreement from the White House meeting was that the killing had to end and that it remained to be seen if Putin had the courage to meet Zelenskyy. “Putin is rarely to be trusted,” Stubb said.
The Russian president has previously resisted a one-on-one meeting with Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s president said it was ready to meet with Russia in “any format” and that territorial issues are “something we will leave between me and Putin”.
Here are some of the latest developments:
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German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Putin told Trump in a call during the White House meeting that he was ready to meet Zelenskyy “within the next two weeks”. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin and Trump only discussed the “idea” of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Monday’s phone call.
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Trump told Zelenskyy the US would help guarantee Ukraine’s security in any deal to end the war, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear. “I believe this is a major step forward,” Zelenskyy said, also saying security guarantees for Ukraine would probably be worked out within 10 days.
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The US president ruled out a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war during a meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House, despite last week warning Moscow of “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin didn’t agree to halt the fighting. Trump said while sitting with the leaders on Monday: “All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace. Maybe something like that could happen. As of this moment, it’s not happening.”
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Trump described his meeting with Zelenskyy and the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and Nato as “a very good, early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years”. He also said on social media that vice-president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff were “coordinating with Russia and Ukraine”. “Everyone is very happy about the possibility of peace for Russia/Ukraine,” Trump said.
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French president Emmanuel Macron called for stepping up sanctions against Russia if Putin does not move forward on peace with Ukraine. Merz said Ukraine should not be forced to surrender its Donbas region to Russia in talks, likening it to the US giving up Florida.
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Trump, however, seemed clearly swayed by Putin from their talks in Alaska last Friday and echoed the Russian president’s talking points, saying several times on Monday that ending the war was “up to” both Zelenskyy and Putin – rather than just Putin, who invaded Ukraine. Trump also said: “We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact – that means the war zone.”
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Ukraine will promise to buy $90bn of US weapons financed by Europe as part of a deal to get guarantees from the US for its security if there is a peace settlement with Russia, Zelenskyy said. “There indeed is a package with our proposals worth $90bn,” the Ukrainian president said. “And we have agreements with the US president that when our export opens, they will buy Ukrainian drones. This is important for us.”
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In stark contrast to the heated exchange during Zelenskyy’s first trip to Trump’s White House in February, the Ukrainian president’s charm offensive this time around looked to pay off, allowing him to emerge unscathed. Zelenskyy – who wore a black military-style suit and presented a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, for Melania Trump in response to her letter to Putin – said this meeting with Trump was his “best” so far.