US President Donald Trump has announced that he has begun the process for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to him, this will be followed by a trilateral summit involving the US, Russia and Ukraine.
Trump revealed on social media that he spoke to Putin on the phone during meetings with European leaders at the White House. During this conversation, he started working on arranging a face-to-face meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, although the venue has not been decided yet.
“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” he wrote.
Trilateral Summit with US, Russia and Ukraine Planned
Trump said that after the meeting between Russia and Ukraine takes place, he plans to hold a trilateral summit with the two leaders.
“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat (trilateral meeting), 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,” Trump said.
However, no timeline has been given for bilateral or trilateral talks.
Trump said the discussions on Monday mainly focused on future security assurances for Ukraine. He said these guarantees would be provided primarily by European countries in coordination with Washington. He suggested that optimism is growing among stakeholders about the possibility of establishing peace in the region.
“Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote.
Trump also said that it will soon become clear whether real progress can be made towards ending the fighting.
During talks with Zelensky and European leaders, Trump said, “We’ll see in a certain period of time, not very far from now, a week or two weeks, we’re going to know whether or not we’re going to solve this or is this horrible fighting going to continue.”
A source told CNN that Trump and Putin held talks after Trump put his meeting with Zelensky and other European leaders on hold on Monday.
The European leaders were not present during the talks, the source said.
A European official told CNN that Trump paused talks with European leaders and Zelensky to call Putin.
Trump has assured that the US would be involved in Ukraine’s “future security” as Russia continues its aggression against the war-torn nation.
“It’s an honour to have the President of Ukraine with us. We have had a lot of good discussions, a lot of good talks. I think progress is being made, very substantial progress in many ways. We had a good meeting just a short while ago with the President of Russia. I think, there is a possibility that something could come out of it and today’s meeting is very important. We have 7 very powerful leaders from Europe and are going to be meeting with them right after this meeting,” Trump said.
Trump Stresses Need for Lasting Peace
Trump said the United States would work closely with Ukraine and Russia, as well as other stakeholders, to ensure that peace, once achieved, is long-term and not limited to short-term arrangements that could lead to new conflict.
“We are going to work with Ukraine, we are going to work with everybody. We are going to make sure that if there is peace, peace is going to stay long term. This is very long-term. We are not talking about a two-year peace and then we end up in this mess again. We are going to make sure that everything is good. We have worked with Russia, we are going to work with Ukraine,” Trump said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other European leaders were also present at the White House.
The meeting comes after the Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump last week.
