'Progress made to end Ukraine war': Trump meets Zelenskyy at White House, will reach out to Putin after talks

Zelenskyy says he is open for trilateral meeting with Trump and Putin 

 During the meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy signaled that he's open to having a trilateral meeting with Trump and Putin to negotiate end to Russia-Ukraine war.

In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump said, "...It's an honour to have the President of Ukraine with us. We have had a lot of good discussions, a lot of good talks. I think progress is being made, very substantial progress in many ways. We had a good meeting just a short while ago with the President of Russia. I think, there is a possibility that something could come out of it and today's meeting is very important. We have 7 very powerful leaders from Europe and are going to be meeting with them right after this meeting..." 

We are going to work with Ukraine: Trump

During the meeting, Donald Trump said, "We are going to work with Ukraine, we are going to work with everybody. We are going to make sure that if there is peace, peace is going to stay long term. This is very long-term. We are not talking about a two-year peace and then we end up in this mess again. We are going to make sure that everything is good. We have worked with Russia, we are going to work with Ukraine. We are going to make sure it works, I think if we can get to peace, it's going to work. I have no doubt it..." 

Zelenskyy expresses gratitude to Trump 

In the bilateral meeting with the US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "Thank you for the invitation and for your efforts to stop killing and this war. I also thank your wife, First Lady of the United States, she sent a letter to Putin to talk about our children and my wife has also sent a letter for your wife...I also thank all the partners, France, EU, Finland, UK, Germany for supporting us.”

Trump says Putin wants war to end

President Trump said the war (Russia-Ukraine) is going to end. “When it ends, I can't tell you but the war is going to end and this gentleman wants it to end and Vladimir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it. We are going to get it ended. I have ended 6 wars and I thought that maybe this would be the easiest one. And it's not the easiest one. It's a tough one...India-Pakistan, we are talking about big places. You take a look at some of these wars, you go to Africa and take a look at that. Rawanda and the Congo - that has been going on for 31 years. We have done a total of 6, not including the fact that we totally obliterated the future nuclear capability of Iran...I feel confident that we are going to get this war off,” he said. 

Ahead of the meeting, Zelenskyy said the main goal is a reliable and lasting peace for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe. “And it is important that the momentum of all our meetings lead to precisely this result. We understand that we shouldn't expect Putin to voluntarily abandon aggression and new attempts at conquest. That is why pressure must work, and it must be joint pressure – from the United States and Europe, and from everyone in the world who respects the right to life and the international order. We must stop the killings, and I thank our partners who are working toward this and ultimately toward a reliable and dignified peace. Together with the leaders of Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, the European Commission, and the NATO Secretary General, we coordinated our positions ahead of the meeting with President Trump. Ukraine is ready for a real truce and for establishing a new security architecture. We need peace,” he said.

Earlier, Zelensky urged stronger sanctions against Russia if no trilateral meeting is held between him, US President Donald Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The statement followed a call between Zelensky and Trump on Saturday, one day after the US leader met with Putin in Alaska without Ukraine's participation.

Recounting his conversation with Trump in a post on X, Zelensky wrote that "sanctions are an effective tool."

He added they "should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting" or if Russia tries to evade what he called "an honest end to the war."

Meanwhile, Trump described his talks with Putin, which focused on ending the Ukraine conflict, as "warm" and said the two leaders had "agreed on a lot". He added that the sides were "pretty close to the end" of the conflict, but that "Ukraine has to agree" to any peace deal.The US President also confirmed his willingness to attend a possible three-way summit, stating, "They both want me there, and I'll be there."