3 Takeaways From Trump’s Meeting with European Leaders on Russia-Ukraine War 

President Donald Trump hosted a group of European leaders at the White House on Monday directly after a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.  

“Peace is in reach,” Trump said of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The president was seated beside European leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

Trump’s meetings with Zelenskyy and the European leaders comes just days after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday.  

After the meeting with Putin, Trump said he thinks a deal to end the war could be reached quickly. Reports indicate Putin is demanding Ukraine give up the Donbas region to Russia in exchange for an end to the war and security guarantees for Ukraine. Zelenskyy has opposed ceding any Ukrainian territory to Russia in the past.  

Security Guarantees  

Sitting around a table in the East Room of the White House, Trump and all the European leaders delivered brief remarks before the start of their closed-door meeting. Each leader stressed the importance of a peace deal that includes security guarantees for Ukraine.  

“President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine, and this is one of the key points that we need to consider, and we are going to be considering that at the table,” Trump said, adding that the leaders also plan to discuss “who will do what” among the leaders gathered.  

“I am optimistic that, collectively, we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine,” Trump said.  

“This is very positive that the United States gives such [a] strong signal to security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said.

France’s Macron called security guarantees necessary for peace in Ukraine, and Italy’s Meloni said the discussion of security guarantees would be a first order of business.  

Putin has indicated he is willing to agree to NATO Article 5-type security protections for Ukraine as part of a peace plan. Article 5 guarantees protection for NATO member countries, stating that an attack on one NATO ally is considered an attack against all NATO members. 

Trilateral Meeting

Following the meeting with the European leaders, Trump said, he will hold a call with Putin and said the next step in the dealmaking process is a trilateral meeting.  

The “sensitive” issue related to territory and so forth will be discussed during that trilateral meeting, Zelenskyy said.  

British leader Starmer said a “historic step could come out of this meeting, in terms of security for Ukraine and in Europe,” adding that the resolution to the war will require “a trilateral meeting, which would be the sensible next step.” 

Trump said he thinks peace between Russia and Ukraine is very attainable and a not a matter so much of if, but when. 

Praise for Trump 

Zelenskyy and each European leader thanked Trump for his work toward ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.  

“I think in the past two weeks, we probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past three-and-a-half years,” Finland’s Stubb said. “And I think the fact that we are around this table today is very much symbolic in the sense that it’s Team Europe and Team United States helping Ukraine.” 

“The path is open. You opened it last Friday,” Germany’s Merz said to Trump, referring to the president’s meeting with Putin.  

Merz stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire as negotiations to end the war continue. While Trump has expressed openness to a ceasefire, he has said he would like to move straight to a permanent peace deal.  

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