New York, Aug 19 (IANS) – After holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top European leaders, US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is arranging a meeting between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of his push to end the nearly four-year-long war.
“Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that he had already spoken with Putin to begin planning a meeting at a location yet to be decided.
Following the bilateral, Trump said, a trilateral summit would take place involving him, Zelensky, and Putin. “This was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” he noted.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who attended Monday’s discussions in Washington, described it as a “good meeting” but warned, “the next steps will be more complicated.” Other European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also participated.
The high-profile gathering came after Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday, where he dropped his earlier demand for an immediate ceasefire — a move that surprised Zelensky and Europe’s leaders. Instead, the talks focused on long-term security guarantees for Ukraine. Trump said Putin had agreed to the proposals, which could involve US and European troops being deployed as peacekeepers.
“During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which would be provided by the various European Countries, in coordination with the United States of America,” Trump wrote online. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the plan as a “historic step.”
The guarantees are seen as a compromise, since Putin has opposed Ukraine’s NATO membership. Under the arrangement, however, any aggression against Ukraine would face a joint Western military response.
Despite progress, two contentious issues remain unresolved: the timing of a ceasefire and the status of Russian-occupied territories. While European leaders pressed for an immediate truce, Trump insisted on negotiating a full peace agreement without a ceasefire as a precondition. “If we can get a cease-fire, great,” he said, “but President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that.”
Meanwhile, fresh Russian strikes on Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia underscored the urgency of halting hostilities, killing at least 10 civilians, including a one-year-old child, just hours before the White House meeting.
The future of Crimea and eastern Ukraine also looms large. Trump suggested Kyiv may have to forgo reclaiming Crimea, seized by Moscow in 2014, while Russia is demanding to keep not only occupied areas of Donetsk but also extend control over the rest of the province.
Senator Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State, acknowledged on Sunday that territorial concessions are likely unavoidable. “If one side gets everything they want, that’s called surrender. And that’s not what we’re close to doing,” he said.
Despite the difficult road ahead, European leaders praised Trump for injecting fresh momentum into peace efforts. Italian Prime Minister Meloni called the talks “an important day — a new phase” after years without signs of Russian openness to dialogue.
