Europeans hail Ukraine talks with Trump but divisions remain over ceasefire

Washington: Warring leaders Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin are poised to meet each other in the next fortnight to progress Ukraine peace negotiations, after European leaders travelled to Washington on Monday (Tuesday AEST) for what they heralded as a productive day of talks with US President Donald Trump.

The meeting at the White House, from which Trump broke off near the end to call the Russian president, ended with promises of a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, and renewed discussion of a US-backed security guarantee for Ukraine.

But there were simmering divisions over whether to press Putin on a ceasefire, something Trump backed away from even as he warmed to Zelensky and enjoyed what the Ukrainian president called their best meeting yet.

After Trump’s discussion with European leaders, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Putin had agreed to meet with Zelensky within the next two weeks, but questioned whether the Russian president would have the “courage” to follow through. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian TV that senior negotiators would be part of further talks, but did not mention if Putin himself would attend.

European leaders called an urgent meeting of their “coalition of the willing” to offer security to Ukraine if there is a peace agreement, and Trump prepared to join the online talks. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday night, shortly before 10pm AEST, that he would also join the coalition talks. He dialled in to the previous meeting on the weekend.

On Monday (Tuesday AEST), Trump and Zelensky held a much more conciliatory encounter than their infamous February meeting, where they clashed over Zelensky’s perceived ingratitude and the Ukrainian president was forced to leave the White House early.

This time, Zelensky began by thanking Trump for his efforts to end the war, thanked Melania Trump for a letter she wrote to Putin about the plight of children caught in conflict, and presented a letter from his own wife to the first lady.

Having been mocked for his military-style black sweatshirt last time, Zelensky wore a black, suit-like coat and even made light of his previous interaction with a conservative American reporter. “I’ve changed, you are not,” Zelensky said, eliciting laughter.

Ukraine’s leader was joined in Washington by Merz as well as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

The show of unity followed Trump’s meeting with Putin days ago in Alaska, which was the first time the Russian leader had had an audience with a US president since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

At the end of the meeting with European leaders on Monday (Tuesday AEST), Trump phoned Putin, and later revealed arrangements were under way for the Putin- Zelensky meeting, followed by a trilateral that Trump would attend. Zelensky confirmed he would meet Putin and said the sequence of events was proposed by the Russians.

Addressing reporters outside the White House, Zelensky said territorial disputes between Russia and Ukraine would be left for him and Putin to determine. Trump had previously spoken about negotiating “land swaps” between the two nations.

The focus of the latest meetings was on security guarantees for Ukraine, though this was not resolved. Trump raised the prospect of providing Ukraine with “NATO-like” protection as part of a joint effort led by Europe, with US “co-ordination”.

“They are first line of defence because they’re there, they’re Europe. But we’re going to help them out also, we’ll be involved,” Trump said. “We will give them very good protection, very good security.”

Asked whether this extended to the US putting boots on the ground, Trump did not rule it out. “There’ll be a lot of help,” he said.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO and Trump again indicated it was not a possibility given the long-standing objections of some members. Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic security bloc’s charter, members are obligated to come to each other’s defence.

The Financial Times reported Ukraine had proposed buying $US100 billion ($154 billion) of American weapons, financed by Europe, in a bid to obtain US support for a security guarantee as part of a peace deal, citing a document seen by the newspaper. Zelensky has expressed interest in obtaining US Patriot missile defence systems, and praised them when he met Trump.

When asked by a reporter what Ukraine required in terms of security, Zelensky said: “Everything.” That meant a strong Ukrainian army, weapons, well-trained soldiers and intelligence sharing, he said.

But it would also require back-up in the form of guarantees. “It depends on big countries, the United States [and] a lot of our friends.”

Meanwhile, Trump said he was no longer attempting to broker an immediate ceasefire and wanted to move directly to a full peace deal.

“I don’t think you need a ceasefire,” he said. “I know that it might be good to have, but you can also understand strategically why one country or another wouldn’t want it.”

This was welcomed by the Kremlin. Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev posted on X: “An important day of diplomacy today with the focus on Lasting Peace not a Temporary Ceasefire.”

But some European leaders voiced frustration about the lack of action on a truce. Macron called it a necessity, while Merz said a ceasefire must be secured at the next meeting.

“Let’s work on that, let’s try to put pressure on Russia because the credibility of these efforts ... are depending on at least a ceasefire,” Merz said.

Trump reiterated his belief that Putin also wanted to “find an answer” to the conflict, and suggested that the leaders would know within “a week or two weeks” whether a solution was possible.

“All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire. As of this moment, it’s not happening,” Trump said. “But President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that. I don’t know that it’s necessary.”

Starmer was enthusiastic about the provision of a NATO-like security guarantee and stressed that the security of Europe was at stake, not just Ukraine.

“There was a real sense of unity and we made real progress today,” Starmer told reporters after the summit, adding that Ukraine “must be at the table” for peace talks.

Macron said the most important outcome was what he described as the “US commitment to work with us on providing security guarantees”. He said he still doubted Putin wanted to end the war.

Stubb, who has bonded with Trump, said details of a security guarantee could be sorted within two weeks.

With Angus Delaney

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