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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine met with President Trump and an extraordinary delegation of European leaders at the White House on Monday, seeking to defend his nation’s interests as Mr. Trump presses for a quick peace agreement with Russia that would require Ukraine to make sweeping concessions.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky huddled for several hours in the East Room with the small group of European leaders, who had rushed to Washington to support the Ukrainian president in talks about how to end the war despite serious disagreements over the path forward. After the meetings, Mr. Trump called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia while Mr. Zelensky and the other European leaders were still at the White House, two people briefed on the call said.
Mr. Trump confirmed the call in a post on Truth Social, giving no details about what he had relayed to Mr. Putin. He portrayed the meetings with the European leaders as fruitful and said they discussed security guarantees for Ukraine and how they would be implemented, a subject that — if it were to include NATO troops — was preemptively rejected by Russia on Monday.
Mr. Trump also said that he had initiated steps for a meeting between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin, at a site to be determined, and said it would be followed by a further trilateral meeting that he would attend.
Yuri Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy aide, said the Russian president and Mr. Trump spoke for 40 minutes and agreed that more senior negotiators would be appointed for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine. But Mr. Ushakov, in his comments to Rossiya 24, a state-run news channel, made no mention about Mr. Putin himself participating.
Wearing a black suit instead of his usual military attire, Mr. Zelensky had arrived at the White House around 1 p.m., greeted warmly by Mr. Trump at the entrance of the West Wing. Inside the Oval Office, the two presidents showed few signs of their once-frayed relationship, talked positively about the United States’ playing a role in security guarantees for Ukraine, and expressed their eagerness to pursue a trilateral meeting with Mr. Putin.
But details of any progress toward peace were scarce. And Mr. Zelensky, now three and a half years into a war instigated by Russia, was expected to soon confront a difficult choice: surrender territory in exchange for vague promises for Ukraine’s future security, or hold his ground and risk reigniting Mr. Trump’s anger.
The initial interactions were a striking departure from the tone of Mr. Zelensky’s previous visit to the White House in February, when Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated him in the Oval Office on live television. Mr. Vance said nothing this time, and both presidents were genial. Mr. Zelensky absorbed jokes about his suit and handed Mr. Trump a letter his wife had written to the first lady, Melania Trump.
On Monday, Mr. Trump, a skeptic of multilateral alliances and deeply desiring of a Nobel Peace Prize, was not specific about what security guarantees for Ukraine would look like, although he said the U.S. would help in some way, and he did not rule out involving American troops.
While Mr. Zelensky said he was ready for a trilateral meeting with Mr. Putin, he has steadfastly rejected ceding land to Russia. But as Mr. Trump has aligned more closely with Russia after his warm meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Zelensky faces increased pressure to persuade the United States that Ukraine should get a better deal.
In a sign of the alarm among allies, a posse of European leaders — including Keir Starmer of Britain, Mr. Macron, and two leaders whom Mr. Trump generally likes, Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Alexander Stubb of Finland — had rushed to join Monday’s meetings in an effort to show solidarity with Ukraine and “to defend the interests of the Europeans,” according to Mr. Macron.
Several top European officials have warned that if Mr. Putin, who has a history of breaking diplomatic commitments, is not stopped in Ukraine, he could try to take more European territory by force.
Mr. Zelensky on Sunday labeled talk of U.S. security guarantees “a significant change” in the U.S. position. But he doesn’t have the
authority to make the most important concession that Mr. Putin appears to be demanding: giving up all of the eastern Donbas region, including territory that Ukraine still controls, to Russia. Ukraine’s Constitution requires a referendum to cede territory, and the vast majority of Ukrainians oppose doing so.
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