This Monday’s summit at the White House to try to conclude with its visibly satisfied participants – at least in public – and with two advances: the United States has confirmed its willingness to contribute to security guarantees for the country occupied in a peace agreement, and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has launched preparations for one. Although it is not yet clear that the Kremlin ends up accepting the invitation, if this meeting came to be held to another appointment: a trilateral between the two enemy and Trump presidents.
The satisfaction was universal, and palpable, among the leaders participating in the summit this Monday, after more than five hours of negotiations that, as admitted, they developed “better than expected.” “We have taken three steps forward and none behind,” said Finn Stubb on CNN television network.
The agenda had begun with a bilateral between Trump and Zelenski, before giving rise to a multilateral with both and with the European leaders who had accompanied Ukraine to Washington: the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the heads of state of France, Emmanuel Macron, and Finland, Alexander Stubb; the German chancellor; The prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, and Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and NATO general secretary Mark Rutte. The multilateral began in the east room of the White House and concluded in the Oval Office, with an interruption for Trump to speak on the phone with Putin.
Speaking at the beginning of the meeting, Trump talked about one of the proposals posed by the Russian to freeze the front line, the “exchange of territories.” Putin wants control of Donbás (Luhansk’s provinces, in the hands of Russian troops almost completely, and Donetsk, occupied in 70%) in exchange for freezing the front line. Zelenski, and Europe, who would leave Ukraine enormously exposed to a possible new attack by Moscow in the future. As Zelenski explained in a later press conference, the most thorny issues for peace, including the Russian proposal, will be discussed in their bilateral with Putin, because it is two to whom it corresponds to agree on the subject. He also revealed that the question of the territories occupied a good part of his bilateral with Trump.
The meeting between Ukraine and Russian would take place in two weeks, ideally, as Merz said. Zelenski has declared, on the other hand, willing to meet with his enemy “under any format.”
The possibility of that bilateral has been revealed by Trump himself, in a message in his social, Truth. “At the conclusion of the multilateral I telephoned President Putin and began the preparations for a meeting, in a place yet to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenski. Once that meeting takes place, we will have a trilateral between the two presidents and myself,” wrote the US president.
So far, Russia has limited himself to confirming that Putin and Trump have discussed the idea of raising the level of Russian-Ukrainian direct negotiations, according to Javier G. Cuesta reports From Moscow.
“It is possible that to get (the meeting) the pressure of the United States is required,” said Ukraine, which pointed out that the bilateral would be held without any previous conditions, not even that of a high fire. “If I claim a truce, then Putin would claim one hundred more things,” Zelenski explained, who arrived at the White House dressed in a black jacket suit. Six months ago, the one who arrived with military clothing had triggered the first reproaches of what became a very public anger of Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, against an “ungrateful” leader Ukraine.
One of the aspects that was addressed in depth during the multilateral meeting was the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine within a peace agreement. kyiv, and Europe, consider them indispensable to avoid repetition of Russian aggressions in the future.
“I have had a very good meeting with very distinguished guests,” wrote US President Donald Trump, at the end of the meeting in his social network. “During the meeting we address security guarantees for Ukraine, guarantees that would be contributed by the different European countries, with a coordination with the United States,” he announced. That statement is excellent news for kyiv. Until now, the Republican had resisted directly and indirectly to involve his country in any guarantee modality to protect the occupied nation of some possible attack in the future.
In his statements to the press in his bilateral with Zelenski, Trump did not even rule out the possibility of deploying US troops on the field in Ukraine. Although it does not seem to be the idea it has in mind. As declared on the Fox News television network, NATO general secretary, the USA “wants to be involved” in the effort that thirty countries would develop, headed by France and the United Kingdom and that include non -European states such as Japan or Australia, to protect the now occupied nation. But in the multilateral on Monday, Trump failed to send troops from his country, Routte confirmed.
The security guarantees that are handled do not contemplate that Ukraine can become a NATO member, something that under any circumstance (Kremlin includes that possibility in the “causes of war” that it considers it necessary to solve before signing peace). But they would be “of the article 5” of the Treaty of the Alliance, which forces the members to defend any partner attacked.
What is going to be American participation is “something that will be addressed in the next few days,” according to Rutte. Also for the near future it is treated the possible deployment of international troops. But details are already beginning to emerge. As the Financial Times has advanced, and Zelenski himself has confirmed, the Ukraine has raised, among other things, a huge purchase of American weapons, worth at least 90,000 million dollars, whose amount would be disbursed by European allies. For its part, the United States would import drones from Ukraine, which during the war has become a true power in the sector, although the Ukrainian leader has clarified that the agreement is not yet formalized.
“Security guarantees are probably approached among our partners, and more and more details will be known. All this will be formalized in some way on the role in the next seven to ten days,” he declared at his press conference after meetings.
The Europeans landed in Washington with a mission above all things: make sure that, after the meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska last Friday, the American did not plan a clamp maneuver with the Russian to reach an agreement on the end of the unacceptable war for Ukraine and forced kyiv to accept it. In their public statements in the multilateral, leaders such as Merz or Macron demanded a stop the fire before starting any negotiation, something Moscow has never wanted to accept. They also insisted that Ukraine cannot give territory, despite Putin’s proposals and Trump’s apparent support for the plan. “Ukraine cannot be forced to renounce territories: it is as if they forced the United States to get rid of Florida,” said Merz.
Perhaps the most skeptical in his statements was Macron, who declared himself very unvolved that Putin has true peace intentions. “It does not give any sign of loving it … I have great doubts about her will to peace,” said the French president, who nevertheless declared that Trump “thinks he has at his fingertips to achieve an agreement and I want to believe him.” The Head of State also highlighted the need for Europe to be present at the negotiating table: “It is his security at stake.”
Another issue addressed in the contact round has been that of the Ukrainian children captured and transferred to Russia, and the prisoners of war, raised to Trump during the multilateral by Von der Leyen. The president of the European Commission spoke after Trump himself published a letter from his wife, Melania, Putin about the cases of those minors. “We have addressed the worldwide problem of missing children … It is a priority issue for me, and the world will collaborate to solve it,” Trump said.
