Trump-Zelensky White House meeting LIVE updates: US president says no peace until he, Putin and Zelensky meet

Hello and thank you for reading our live blog of the meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders. Our rolling coverage has now concluded for today.

Here’s what happened at the White House.

• Trump says no ceasefire or truce will be struck until he, Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet directly for trilateral talks. Trump said he was no longer interested in brokering a ceasefire, but rather seeking a lasting peace deal.
• Trump indicated the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end the war, but stopped short of committing American troops.
• After speaking with Putin on the phone, Trump said the Russian leader would meet with Zelensky. He flagged a trilateral meeting involving the US would follow. Russian agencies reported the phone call lasted for 40 minutes.
• The Financial Times reported the Ukrainians were essentially proposing to buy US security guarantees by promising to purchase $US100 billion ($154 billion) of American weaponry, financed by Europe, likely to include the Patriot air defence systems Zelensky wants and needs.
• Leaders of key European allies met with Trump and Zelensky in the White House after their direct talks.
• Trump said Ukraine and Russia must “discuss the possible exchanges of territory”, considering the parts of Ukraine that Russia had already gained control over.
• European leaders who attended were largely positive about the meeting’s outcomes, believing the security guarantees would strengthen all of Europe. But some leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Finland’s Alexander Stubb questioned whether Putin was truly intent on brokering peace.
• Today’s meeting was far more respectful than the last time the pair met in the Oval Office.
• Zelensky handed Trump a letter from his wife for first lady Melania Trump. Trump delivered Putin a letter from Melania lamenting the plight of children caught in the war on Saturday,
• The Ukrainian wore a black suit to the White House this time, rather than his usual military-style clothes, and joked with the same reporter who criticised him previously.

Hello and thank you for reading our live blog of the meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

Here’s what happened at the White House.

• Trump says no ceasefire or truce will be struck until he, Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet directly for trilateral talks. Trump said he was no longer interested in brokering a ceasefire, but rather seeking a lasting peace deal.
• Trump indicated the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end the war, but stopped short of committing American troops.
• After speaking with Putin on the phone, Trump said the Russian leader would meet with Zelensky. He flagged a trilateral meeting involving the US would follow. Russian agencies reported the phone call lasted for 40 minutes.
• Leaders of key European allies met with Trump and Zelensky in the White House after their direct talks.
• Trump said Ukraine and Russia must “discuss the possible exchanges of territory”, considering the parts of Ukraine that Russia had already gained control over.
• European leaders who attended were largely positive about the meeting’s outcomes, believing the security guarantees would strengthen all of Europe. But some leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Finland’s Alexander Stubb questioned whether Putin was truly intent on brokering peace.
• Today’s meeting was far more respectful than the last time the pair met in the Oval Office.
• Zelensky handed Trump a letter from his wife for first lady Melania Trump. Trump delivered Putin a letter from Melania lamenting the plight of children caught in the war on Saturday,
• The Ukrainian wore a black suit to the White House this time, rather than his usual military-style clothes, and joked with the same reporter who criticised him previously.

Good morning and thank you for reading our live blog of the meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

Here’s what has happened so far this morning:

• Trump says no ceasefire or truce will be struck until he, Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet directly for trilateral talks. Trump said he was no longer interested in brokering a ceasefire, but rather seeking a lasting peace deal.
• Trump indicated the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end the war, but stopped short of committing American troops.
• Leaders of key European allies met with Trump and Zelensky in the White House after their direct talks. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pushed back on Trump’s remarks that a ceasefire was not necessary. Other leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, pressed for security guarantees.
• Trump said Ukraine and Russia must “discuss the possible exchanges of territory”, considering the parts of Ukraine that Russia had already gained control over.
• Today’s meeting was far more respectful than the last time the pair met in the Oval Office.
• Zelensky handed Trump a letter from his wife for first lady Melania Trump.
• The Ukrainian wore a black suit for the occasion, rather than his usual military-style clothes, and joked with the same reporter who criticised him last time.

• Trump interrupted talks to call Putin, Germany’s Bild newspaper reported.

• The US president spoke to Putin for 40 minutes and announced on social media that there would first be a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, before he joins them for further talks.

As world leaders gathered in the White House today, the devastation in Ukraine continued. This month Europe correspondent David Crowe sat down with Shaun Hopkins, an aid volunteer who’s made 60 trips to Ukraine.

Here’s a snapshot of their meeting at the Hand & Spear Hotel in Surrey, England, as told by Crowe in our What in the World newsletter last week.

I’m sitting in the kind of pub where you could relax all afternoon and forget to go home. But I’m here to discuss a place where so much is all wrong.

I’m catching up with Shaun Hopkins, a tech worker and aid volunteer, on his return from the eastern edge of Ukraine. Two days before our meeting he was in Pokrovsk a town in the news this month because it could be caught in a sudden Russian advance. 

“It’s the worst I’ve seen,” he says of his latest visit. “It reminded me of the first journeys I did to Ukraine when the Russians were still around Kyiv. I didn’t know what to expect when I first went into Ukraine, and I was back in that situation again 3½ years on, looking for drones and not knowing if we go down this lane, whether or not there’s going to be Russians.”

Shaun is on his way home after delivering medical aid and vehicles to the front line. This was his 60th trip since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Read the full story here.

Of all the leaders who attended today’s multilateral meetings, Finnish President Alexander Stubb was perhaps the most openly sceptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions for peace.

“We will see if Putin has the courage to come to such a meeting [to discuss peace with Zelensky], he cannot be trusted,” Stubb said.

His scepticism could be tied to his proximity to Putin. Finland shares a border of more than 1300 kilometres with Russia. Moscow once annexed Finland and has attacked it several times over seven centuries and is positioning itself to do it again.

So what is Finland doing about this pressure?

As Stubb told political and international editor Peter Hartcher in this masthead last month: “I know it sounds strange, [but] we’re quite relaxed at the moment.”

Read the full story here.

Hello and thank you for reading our live blog of the meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

Here’s what happened at the White House.

• Trump says no ceasefire or truce will be struck until he, Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet directly for trilateral talks. Trump said he was no longer interested in brokering a ceasefire, but rather seeking a lasting peace deal.
• Trump indicated the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end the war, but stopped short of committing American troops.
• After speaking with Putin on the phone, Trump said the Russian leader would meet with Zelensky. He flagged a trilateral meeting involving the US would follow. Russian agencies reported the phone call lasted for 40 minutes.
• Leaders of key European allies met with Trump and Zelensky in the White House after their direct talks.
• Trump said Ukraine and Russia must “discuss the possible exchanges of territory”, considering the parts of Ukraine that Russia had already gained control over.
• European leaders who attended were largely positive about the meeting’s outcomes, believing the security guarantees would strengthen all of Europe. But some leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Finland’s Alexander Stubb questioned whether Putin was truly intent on brokering peace.
• Today’s meeting was far more respectful than the last time the pair met in the Oval Office.
• Zelensky handed Trump a letter from his wife for first lady Melania Trump. Trump delivered Putin a letter from Melania lamenting the plight of children caught in the war on Saturday,
• The Ukrainian wore a black suit to the White House this time, rather than his usual military-style clothes, and joked with the same reporter who criticised him previously.

Moscow’s envoy for investment and economic co-operation Kirill Dmitriev recognised Zelensky’s meetings with Trump and European leaders on social media.

“An important day of diplomacy today with the focus on Lasting Peace not a Temporary Ceasefire,” he said in a post on X.

Dmitriev had played a key role in direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in recent months, as well as discussions between Russian and US officials.