The show of unity followed Trump’s meeting with Putin days ago in Alaska, which was the first time the Russian leader had an audience with a US president since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
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At the end of Monday’s meeting with European leaders, Trump phoned Putin, and later revealed arrangements were under way for a meeting between the Russian and Zelensky, followed by a trilateral meeting that Trump would attend. Zelensky confirmed he would meet Putin and said the sequence of events was proposed by the Russians.
Addressing reporters outside the White House, Zelensky said territorial disputes between Russia and Ukraine would be left for him and Putin to determine. Trump had previously spoken about negotiating “land swaps” between the two nations.
The focus of the latest meetings was on security guarantees for Ukraine, though this was not resolved. Trump raised the prospect of providing Ukraine with “NATO-like” protection as part of a joint effort led by Europe, with US “co-ordination”.
“They are the first line of defence because they’re there, they’re Europe. But we’re going to help them out also, we’ll be involved,” Trump said. “We will give them very good protection, very good security.”
Asked whether this extended to the US putting boots on the ground, Trump did not rule it out. “There’ll be a lot of help,” he said.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO and Trump again indicated it was not a possibility given the long-standing objections of some members. Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic security bloc’s charter, members are obligated to come to each other’s defence.
The Financial Times reported Ukraine had proposed buying $US100 billion ($154 billion) of American weapons, financed by Europe, in a bid to obtain US support for a security guarantee as part of a peace deal, citing a document seen by the newspaper. Zelensky has expressed interest in obtaining US Patriot missile defence systems, and praised them when he met Trump.
When asked by a reporter what Ukraine required in terms of security, Zelensky said: “Everything.” That meant a strong Ukrainian army, weapons, well-trained soldiers and intelligence sharing, he said.
But it would also require back-up in the form of guarantees. “It depends on big countries, the United States [and] a lot of our friends.”
Meanwhile, Trump said he was no longer attempting to broker an immediate ceasefire, and that he wanted to move directly to a full peace deal.
“I don’t think you need a ceasefire,” he said. “I know that it might be good to have, but you can also understand strategically why one country or another wouldn’t want it.”
This was welcomed by the Kremlin. Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev posted on X: “An important day of diplomacy today with the focus on Lasting Peace not a Temporary Ceasefire.”
But some European leaders voiced frustration about the lack of action on a truce. Macron called it a necessity, while Merz said a ceasefire must be secured at the next meeting.
The delegation of European leaders pose with Trump at the White House.Credit: AP
“Let’s work on that, let’s try to put pressure on Russia because the credibility of these efforts … are depending on at least a ceasefire,” Merz said.
Trump reiterated his belief that Putin also wanted to “find an answer” to the conflict, and suggested that the leaders would know within “a week or two weeks” whether a solution was possible.
“All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire. As of this moment, it’s not happening,” Trump said. “But President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that. I don’t know that it’s necessary.”
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Starmer was enthusiastic about the provision of a NATO-like security guarantee, and stressed the security of Europe was at stake, not just Ukraine.
“There was a real sense of unity and we made real progress today,” Starmer told reporters after the summit, adding that Ukraine “must be at the table” for peace talks.
Macron said the most important outcome was what he described as the “US commitment to work with us on providing security guarantees”. He said he still doubted Putin wanted to end the war.
Both Merz and Stubb expressed doubts that Putin had the “courage” to attend a meeting with Zelensky. “He cannot be trusted,” Stubb said.
The Finnish president, who has bonded with Trump, said details of a security guarantee could be sorted within two weeks.
With Angus Delaney
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