There is a “reasonable chance of ending the war” if talks with Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky and European leaders go well today, U.S. President Donald Trump has said.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky arrived at the White House on Monday afternoon for crunch talks with President Donald Trump and a host of European leaders flown in for the occasion, for a series of discussions following Friday’s historic meeting in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sitting beside Zelensky in the Oval Office in a meeting that started on a much better footing than the Ukrainian’s last visit to Washington, Trump said, “the war is going to end”.
Speaking of the conversations to follow on Monday, President Trump said: “We’re going to have a meeting, I think if everything works out well today we’ll have a [trilateral meeting], and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that.”
The much-anticipated trilateral meeting is widely seen as essential to cutting the Gordian knot of the war, and would get President Zelensky at the table with President Putin, with President Trump standing in as a mediator between the two. Without those key stakeholders coming together to make final decisions on peace, the now endless rounds of talks appear set to continue indefinitely.
Indeed, President Trump nodded to these fears, and added: “If we don’t have a trilat, there’s a good chance the fighting continues.”
President Zelensky responded to Trump’s remarks, signalling his desire to attend the trilateral talks when they happen. He replied: “[by fighting Ukraine showed] we are strong people and we supported an idea of the United States, of President Trump, to stop this war [in a] diplomatic way to finish this war. We are ready for a trilateral, as the President said, it’s a good signal”.
This leaves the ball in Russia’s court, as Moscow has steadfastly refused to meaningfully engage with the notion of a three-way leaders’ meeting. While President Trump was clearly encouraged by the outcome of Friday’s meeting, the discussions broke without Russia committing to further talks as hoped.
Trump said he would be calling President Putin today to arrange that trilateral meeting.
Nevertheless, President Trump said he was determined to keep trying. He said in the Oval Office: “I can never say that, it’s never the end of the road. People are being killed and we want to end it,” adding that there is “a good chance of doing it… the war is going to end”.
