Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has disclosed that he will meet US President, Donald Trump in Washington, DC on Monday, August 18, 2925.
This came after Trump, on his flight back from Alaska, had “a long and substantive conversation” with Zelenskyy which was later joined by other European leadersto debrief the Alaska summit.
Zelenskyy said in a statement; his first since the meeting in Alaska which he was excluded from, that Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace.
“President Trump informed about his meeting with the Russian leader and the main points of their discussion. It is important that America’s strength has an impact on the development of the situation.
“On Monday, I will meet with President Trump in Washington, DC, to discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war. I am grateful for the invitation.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy expressed support for the US President’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the United States, saying that Ukraine “emphasizes that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.”
The Ukrainian President added that he spoke to Trump one-to-one for “about an hour” following the Alaska summit, and European leaders later joined the phone call, which lasted for more than an hour and a half in total.
“It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America.
“We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security. We continue to coordinate our positions with all partners. I thank everyone who is helping.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
According to the Elysee Palace, the European leaders who joined the call with Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart included French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and the European Union’s Ursula von der Leyen also joined the call.
Alaska Summit Ends Without Peace Deal
After speaking behind closed doors for two-and-a-half hours, Trump disclosed that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin made “great progress” but did not emerge from the Alaska summit with a deal on the war in Ukraine, saying, “there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
Trump and Putin gave a joint press conference following their talks, but little was revealed of the finer details of their discussions.
“We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”
Donald Trump
Trump added that Ukraine would have to “agree” with what Secretary of State Marco Rubio, envoy Steve Witkoff and others in his administration discussed with Putin, though he did not delve into specifics on any framework for a deal.
On his part, the Russian President, who spoke first at the press briefing, said that the primary causes of the war must be eliminated for the war in Ukraine to end.
He added that Ukrainian and European leaders should not interfere with “the emerging progress.”
Also, Putin stated that negotiations between him and Trump were held in a “respectful, constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere.”
Putin said that he agrees that the security of Ukraine should be ensured. He also claimed at one point that the war in Ukraine would not have happened had Trump been President in 2022.
Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin skipped answering questions at the joint news conference.
As Putin and Trump met in Anchorage, Alaska, there was no let-up in fighting on the ground in eastern Ukraine, nor in drone attacks in both directions.
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