President Donald Trump said he would meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday afternoon to discuss an agreement “which would end the war” Between Russia and Ukraine.
The post social post came about half a day after Mr. Trump met the Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Trump said that the meeting with Putin “went very well”. He also said that the meeting was followed by a “phone call at the end of the evening” with Zelenskyy and other European leaders, including Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general. The call took place around 2:40 a.m. HE.
“It was determined by all that the best way to put an end to the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end war, and not to a simple cease-fire agreement, which would not often hold,” Trump said.
Mr. Trump did not share any details of the agreement. He said Zelenskyy would join him in the oval office on Monday afternoon to discuss the proposal.
European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said in a statement that they had been debriefed at the meeting with Putin, and said Trump had supported security guarantees for Ukraine.
“We are clear that Ukraine must have foolproof security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We welcome the declaration of President Trump according to which the United States is ready to offer security guarantees,” the statement said.
The group welcomed “Trump’s efforts to stop murder in Ukraine” and said they were “ready to work” with Trump and Zelenskyy towards a “trilateral summit with European support”.
Zelenskyy previously supported a cease-fire agreement to respect and discuss a peace agreement, but Moscow rejected the idea. He also has criticized discussions This takes place without Ukraine.
“If everything works, we will plan a meeting with President Putin,” said Trump. “Potentially, millions of people will be saved.”
Zelenskyy had previously joined Mr. Trump and Vice-President JD Vance in the Oval Office in March, but the rally quickly went down In insults and chaos.
Andrew Harnik / Getty images
Friday, Mr. Trump’s meeting with Putin in Anchorage ended without a ceasefire or peace agreement. In Brief remarks After the meeting of almost three hours of managers, Putin alluded to “unpertified agreements”, but no other details were given. Trump said the meeting was “extremely productive”. None of the two leaders mentioned the end of the fighting in Ukraine.
The summit, which included a red carpet and a military overview, ended early without a lunch planned between a wider group of officials. Trump returned to Washington, DC overnight.
In a conversation recorded with Sean Hannity of Fox News before his departure from Alaska, Trump said that he thought Putin wanted war to end and that the nations are close to an agreement, and added that it is “really up to President Zelenskyy to do so”. He did not specify what an agreement might look like.
Zelenskyy said in the past that he would not accept any official Russian annexation of the Ukrainian territory or would not abandon the country’s offer for membership of NATO. Meanwhile, Putin was unshakable in his request To keep all the Ukrainian territory that its forces occupy and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, with the long -term objective of returning it to the sphere of influence of Moscow.
Trump described the end of the war in Ukraine and Russia an absolute priority for his administration. He previously declared that he would put an end to the conflict within 24 hours of taking office in January. He criticized Putin and Zelenskyy for not putting an end to the conflict. In recent months, he seemed to be frustrated by Putin, Ultimatums give And criticize the Russian chief for violence against civilians in Ukraine in the middle of conversations in progress with the United States
“I always hang up, (and) say:” Well, it was a beautiful telephone call “,” said Trump in July. “And then missiles are launched in kyiv or in another city, and I say:” It’s strange. “And after that three or four times happens, say, the conversation means nothing.”
Andrew Harnik / Getty images
Trump said on Friday that he would not adopt economic sanctions that he had threatened against Russia If an agreement was not concluded in early August. He said he “may have to think about” promulgating sanctions “in two or three weeks or something”.
There were strikes between the two countries overnight. The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses had shot down 29 Ukrainian drones on Russia and the Azov Sea, Associated Press reported. Ukraine said that a ballistic missile and 85 Shahed drones had been fired in parts of Sumy, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Chernihiv, according to the AP, and 61 of the drones were killed.
A Ukrainian soldier from Sumy told CBS News that “things become even more terrifying on the front line” when there are peace talks.
“They try to seize more territory,” said the soldier.