Trump and Zelensky held a joint press conference. Key points

Presidents of Ukraine and the United States — Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump — held a joint press conference before their meeting at the White House.

The meeting was broadcast on the White House YouTube channel.

What Zelensky said

At the beginning of the meeting, Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the US First Lady Melania Trump for passing on a letter to Putin about the abducted children. He also handed over a letter to the US First Lady from Ukraineʼs First Lady Olena Zelenska.

The Ukrainian president also confirmed his readiness to hold elections after the end of active hostilities. This requires "security conditions".

When asked what Ukraine needs for a peace agreement, the president noted that the first priority is a strong Ukrainian army and its military support. But this depends on major countries, he added, in particular the United States.

What Trump said

Trump recalled his recent summit with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and said that "significant progress was made".

Separately, he stated that if there is progress at todayʼs meeting, the parties will agree on a trilateral summit between Zelensky, Trump, and Putin. Zelensky confirmed his readiness for trilateral meetings.

According to Trump, the United States does not want a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia — the American president seeks to immediately reach a peace agreement between the countries.

"I donʼt think a ceasefire is necessary. You know, if you look at the 6 [peace] agreements that Iʼve made this year, they were all made under war conditions, I didnʼt make any ceasefires," he noted.

Trump once again reiterated that Ukraine would not be admitted to NATO, but promised that "we will provide them with very good security guarantees".

When asked about the possibility of sending American troops to Ukraine, he replied:

"We will let you know about that, maybe later today... We will be involved."

When asked if the US would commit to providing Ukraine with protection similar to NATO guarantees, Trump replied:

"I donʼt know if you can define it that way, but something like NATO... We have people waiting in another room right now. Theyʼre all from Europe, the most important figures in Europe, and they want to provide protection, they feel it very strongly. And weʼll help them do that."

The American leader also said that he would speak with Putin after the meeting with Zelensky and European leaders.

• Putin and Trump held three-on-three talks on August 15. The meeting lasted about three hours, after which the US president and the Kremlin leader made brief statements, but did not answer journalistsʼ questions.
• The leaders made no significant statements about the ceasefire in Ukraine and related issues, but both spoke positively about the negotiations. There were also no agreements on a trilateral summit with Zelenskyʼs participation.

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