19 Aug 2025 : US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top European leaders to energise months of stalled America-led efforts to halt the over 3-year-old Russia-Ukraine war in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday.
During their second meeting in the Oval Office this year, Donald Trump said the US would be willing to support European efforts to police any peace deal in Ukraine, while its leader, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude and wore dressier clothes.
Although a peace deal appeared far from imminent after the meetings in Washington, Zelensky said his Monday meeting with Trump was his “best” so far.
The tone between Trump and Zelensky was notably improved from the Ukrainian president’s last visit to Washington in February, which erupted into a bitter public clash with Trump and briefly led to the US halting military support.
Zelensky repeatedly thanked Trump, following criticism from US Vice President JD Vance six months ago that he was insufficiently grateful for American military and financial aid.
Trump and Zelensky meeting comes days after the US president held a summit with his Russian counterpart Putin in Alaska. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told UN reporters that “what everybody hopes” is that Trump’s meetings with Ukraine’s president and European leaders “will go in the same vein” as the US leader’s meeting with Putin in Alaska last Friday.
What Donald Trump said
Putin and Zelensky meeting arrangement: Trump said he has begun arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky to discuss a pathway to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The president made the announcement shortly after speaking by phone with Putin. The discussions took place against growing concerns in Europe that Trump is pushing Ukraine into making concessions that could further embolden Putin.
“I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump said in a social media post soon after lengthy talks with Zelensky and the European leaders ended.
“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,” he added.
Putin told Trump that he was ready to meet Zelensky, a source familiar with talks told news agency AFP.
‘Good chance of ending war’: Trump also expressed his desire to stop the killing of countless individuals in the war, saying, “People are being killed and we want to stop that”.
“People are being killed, and we want to stop that. I would not say it’s not the end of the road. We have a good chance of doing it. It’s been almost four years now. A lot of people were killed last week. A lot of people last week. Millions of people killed, but lots of people last week for whatever reason. A big number. A lot of soldiers. Both on both sides. I know the president and myself and I believe Vladimir Putin want to see it ended,” Trump said.
Trump on allowing Ukraine to join NATO: Trump has ruled out allowing Ukraine to join NATO, which would extend the military alliance’s protection to the besieged country. He did, however, express support for security guarantees for Ukraine — though details remain vague. European countries “want to give protection, and they feel very strongly about it, and we will help them out with that,” Trump said.
What Volodymyr Zelensky said
Security guarantees: Zelensky said security guarantees for Kyiv will likely be worked out within 10 days. “Security guarantees will probably be ‘unpacked’ by our partners, and more and more details will emerge. All of this will somehow be formalised on paper within the next week to 10 days,” Zelensky said at broadcast press briefing after his meetings.
He added that a part of security guarantees for Ukraine is a package of US weapons “which primarily includes aircraft, air defence systems,” among others.
“There indeed is a package with our proposals worth $90 billion,” Zelenskiy said.
“It is important that the United States is sending a clear signal that it will be among the countries helping to coordinate and will also be a participant in the security guarantees for Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “I believe this is a major step forward.”
Ready to meet with Russia: The Ukrainian leader also said Ukraine was ready to meet with Russia in “any format” and that territorial issues would be discussed on a bilateral level with Vladimir Putin, but no dates for a possible meeting with Moscow have been scheduled yet.
“The question of territories is something we will leave between me and Putin,” Zelensky said.
Summary:
After a crucial meeting, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky voiced optimism about resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, highlighting potential diplomatic efforts and opportunities for lasting peace.