Zelensky-Trump meeting live: Ukraine leader to meet Putin ‘within two weeks’ after White House talks

Numerous posts on X and its more liberal rival Bluesky expressed relief and gratitude that Donald Trump’s second-in-command had, in the words of one user, “kept his dumb mouth shut”.

“Things go a little better when J.V. [sic] keeps his trap shut and doesn’t try to act tough,” wrote one anti-Trump US conservative on X.

Donald Trump said he called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and begun to arrange a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, a critical step toward bringing a possible end to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Trump said the meeting’s location will be determined later.

“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Donald Trump has told Volodymyr Zelensky that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine’s security in any deal to end Russia’s war there, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear.

Trump made the pledge during the high-level summit at the White House, where he hosted Zelensky and a group of European allies following his meeting on Friday in Alaska with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help,” Trump told reporters, adding that European countries would be involved. “They are a first line of defence because they’re there, but we’ll help them out.”

Zelensky hailed the promise as “a major step forward,” adding that the guarantees would be “formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days” and saying Ukraine offered to buy about $90bn worth of US weapons.

French president Emmanuel Macron told reporters after Monday’s White House meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace, but rather wants to gain Ukrainian territory.

After meeting with president Donald Trump, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and several other European leaders about the Russia-Ukraine war, Macron said a “solid and robust peace agreement” was needed, reported The New York Times.

“I am not convinced that President Putin also wants peace,” Macron said, adding: “His ultimate goal is to gain as much territory as he can, to weaken Ukraine.”

Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced support for a ceasefire as a prerequisite to any direct talks with Russia. Macron also said European leaders would eventually need to be included in any peace talks.

“When we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent,” he told Trump.

President Donald Trump signaled that he believes Russian president Vladimir Putin “wants to make a deal for me” while quietly speaking with French president Emmanuel Macron shortly before hosting European leaders at the White House yesterday.

While waiting for other world leaders to trickle into the East Room to discuss a security resolution for Ukraine and his recent meeting with Putin, Trump was caught on a hot mic sharing his perspective with Macron.

“I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said quietly. “I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds.”

Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Friday, their first meeting since 2019, to begin discussions about Putin coming to the peace talks table to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

President Donald Trump said he and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, discussed “the massive Worldwide problem of missing children” during her visit to the White House yesterday.

“Ursula von der Leyen, the distinguished and Highly Respected President of the European Commission, and I have been discussing the massive Worldwide problem of missing children,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last night after he, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and several other European leaders gathered for a meeting about the Russia-Ukraine war.

“This is, likewise, a big subject with my wife, Melania. It is a subject at the top of all lists, and the World will work together to solve it, hopefully bringing them home to their families!”

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of the war crimes of unlawfully deporting children and unlawfully transferring them from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

While the exact number of missing children over the course of the Russia-Ukraine war remains unclear, the Institute for the Study of War reported in March that Ukraine verified nearly 19,500 children have been deported by Russia.

But the research non-profit said: “The true figure is likely to be much higher because Russia frequently targets vulnerable children without anyone to speak for them.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked president Donald Trump and several European leaders who met at the White House today to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war, calling it a “demonstration of genuine unity.”

“I thank President Trump for the invitation and for today’s special format of our meeting. I also thank all the leaders who were with us today: Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz, Giorgia Meloni, Alexander Stubb, Ursula von der Leyen, Mark Rutte,” Zelensky wrote on X last night.

“Today was an important step, a demonstration of genuine unity between Europe and the United States. The leaders personally came to support Ukraine and to discuss everything that will bring us closer to real peace, to a reliable security architecture that will protect Ukraine and all of Europe. We continue our work, coordinating our steps with all allies who strive to end this war with dignity. I thank everyone who is helping,” he said.

Donald Trump broke away from his talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland plus the top representatives of Nato and the EU, to call Vladimir Putin during their multilateral summit last evening.

The Financial Times reported that Ukraine had offered Trump a European funded $100bn arms deal as part of a pact. Trump has every incentive to hold Putin’s feet to a fire and demand he get out of Ukraine – or burn.

The US could join its allies in Ukraine to defend Europe, it could back its legal demands for territorial integrity, its accession to Nato and celebrate that it is a democracy not a dictatorship. It could also make money by selling weapons and exploiting Ukraine’s vast mineral deposits.

But Trump’s call to Moscow mid-session is bad news, says Sam Kiley, world affairs editor: