Zelenskyy says he accepted Trump’s invitation of a face-to-face meeting in the Oval Office on Monday to explore ways to bring the fighting in his country to an end.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Saturday that he plans to meet US President Donald Trump in the White House on Monday. The announcement comes just hours after the US president concluded a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which produced no agreement to end the war on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said he held a “long and substantive” conversation with his US counterpart on Saturday. He thanked Trump for inviting him to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”
Zelenskyy reiterated the importance of involving European countries in his country’s peace efforts, arguing that they are indispensable partners who will be crucial in upholding any agreement with Russia.
“It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America," he said. "We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security.”
The Trump administration has been highly critical of Europe, partially blaming them for the war breaking out in Ukraine. The US president has long voiced discontent with how Europe has handled the war, even criticising them for not attempting to broker a ceasefire.
Shortly before departing Alaska, speaking to US media, Trump said warned European nations not to “torpedo the nascent progress” made with Putin on Friday. Although Trump and his Russian counterpart did not agree to a deal, the US president said they had hammered out an “understanding”.
Trump insisted that the onus moving forward will be on Zelenskyy to “get it done”, adding that European countries will have “some involvement” in Kyiv’s path to peace.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Saturday that the US president was on the phone with NATO leaders following a lengthy phone call with Zelenskyy, where he debriefed them on his meeting with Putin.
European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta confirmed that several leaders spoke with Trump on Saturday morning.
Podesta says the call involved German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
The Alaska summit marked the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin since his return to the White House, sparking hope that an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, currently in its fourth year, could be nearing an end.
Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the meeting and resumption of direct dialogue between Washington and Moscow as a breakthrough, describing the talks as “calm, without ultimatums and threats.”