Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet United States President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Monday to discuss efforts to end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
The announcement came just hours after Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska concluded without a concrete agreement but were described by both leaders as productive.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”.
Trump made the comments after also holding phone conversations with European Union and NATO leaders.
Speaking to top officials in Moscow a day after the talks, Putin called the discussions “timely” and “very useful,” according to the Kremlin. “We have not had direct negotiations of this kind at this level for a long time,” he said, adding, “We had the opportunity to calmly and in detail reiterate our position.”
Putin described the conversation as “very frank, substantive and, in my opinion, brings us closer to the necessary decisions.”
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Zelenskyy and his European allies, who have long advocated for a ceasefire, welcomed the Trump-Putin discussions but stressed the importance of security guarantees for Kyiv. Zelenskyy, who was publicly criticised by Trump and his officials during their last Oval Office meeting in February, said, “In my conversation with President Trump, I said that sanctions should be tightened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia evades an honest end to the war.”
The Ukrainian leader added that Ukraine needs a “real, long-lasting peace” rather than “just another pause” between Russian offensives.
