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President Trump said Monday that he began the process for a face-to-face meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the more than three-year-long war.
Mr. Trump’s comments came during a White House meeting between the president, Mr. Zelenskyy and other European leaders to figure out a way to end the war.
In a Truth Social post, Mr. Trump said he called Mr. Putin after the meetings to start planning for a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy and ‘early’ steps for trilateral talks between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv.
“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Mr. Trump wrote. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat which would be the two presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years.”
The social media post comes after Mr. Trump, Mr. Zelenskyy and seven European leaders met at the White House to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine following a potential peace deal and a possible land swap between Kyiv and Moscow to end the war.
Those meeting at the White House included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
SEE ALSO: Trump doesn’t rule out U.S. troops in Ukraine as a peacekeeping force
In his Truth Social message, Mr. Trump described the meeting as “good,” saying a second Oval Office meeting followed the initial talks. He said the discussions focused on security guarantees for Ukraine, which he said would be provided by the European countries in coordination with America. Russia said Monday that any NATO security forces in Ukraine would be “unacceptable” to Moscow.
“Everyone is very happy about the possibility of peace,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Mr. Trump did not say if a security deal was reached, but earlier Monday, he predicted that a deal would be struck while the European leaders were at the White House.
“We will come to a resolution today, I think, on almost everything, including probably the security,” Mr. Trump said in the East Room while seated alongside Mr. Zelenskyy and European leaders.
“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,” he said.
Mr. Starmer backed up Mr. Trump’s prediction, also saying that a security agreement was possible before the world leaders leave Washington Monday evening.
“I think we could take a really important step forward today, a historic step actually could come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine, security for Europe,” he said.
The Trump administration has said Mr. Putin agreed to allow American and Europe to give Ukraine protection similar to Article 5 as a security guarantee to bring an end to the war.
Article 5 is a collective defense agreement that an attack against one NATO member is considered an attack against all, and all members are obligated to assist the attacked country. It is the central tenet of NATO membership, though the agreement would likely not permit Ukraine into the NATO alliance.
Mr. Rutte called the White House’s offer of a security guarantee for Ukraine a “breakthrough” when it comes to a peace deal for Ukraine.
“The fact that you have said, ‘I am willing to participate in the security guarantees’ is a big step, it’s really a breakthrough and it makes all the difference. So thank you for that,” Mr. Rutte said.
Mr. Rutte also thanked Mr. Trump for “breaking the deadlock” on Ukraine by bringing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the table for peace talks.
Mr. Trump earlier Monday. did not rule out sending U.S. troops to Ukraine in order to help enforce a potential peace deal. His comments came during a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
Mr. Trump also pushed trilateral talks between Mr. Putin, Mr. Zelenskyy and himself, saying it was a matter “of if, not when.”
However, some of the European leaders pushed back on the idea of three-way talks. Mr. Macron said European leaders would need to be at the table as well.
“I think as a follow up, we would need probably a quadrilateral meeting. Because when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent,” he said.
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