Ukrainian President Zelensky, the US President Donald Trump, and 7 European leaders held a joint press conference following a bilateral meeting between Trump and Zelensky and before the start of multilateral talks at the White House.
The meeting was broadcast on the White House YouTube channel.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
What Trump said
- "I spoke to Putin today. Weʼre going to call him right after the meeting. Weʼll try to arrange a trilateral meeting."
- "Putin agreed that Ukraine should have security guarantees."
- "I am positive that we can reach a collective agreement. [...] Europe will take on a lot."
- "A possible exchange of territories. Itʼs very sad to look at the map now, weʼll have to discuss it."
- "I know there are over a thousand prisoners, and I know they [the Russian Federation] should release them very soon, maybe immediately."
- "Today we will reach a solution on almost all issues, including security."
- "Weʼll know in a week or two if we can resolve this."
Trump reiterated that he wants to conclude a peace agreement immediately, as he did in "6 other wars," rather than limiting himself to a ceasefire.
What Zelensky said
- "In my opinion, this was our best conversation with Trump so far."
- "We will discuss all sensitive things: territorial issues, etc., at the trilateral meeting that President Trump will try to organize."
- "We discussed a lot of details. I showed President Trump some things on the map that are relevant to the fighting."
The President of Ukraine once again thanked Melania Trump for her letter to Putin regarding the abducted Ukrainian children.
What European leaders said
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasized that a ceasefire must first be reached, and only then a peace agreement.
Macron raised the issue of pan-European security and proposed holding a quadrilateral meeting after the trilateral meeting, adding Europeans.
European leaders also raised the issue of Ukrainian security. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the parties would begin by considering guarantees, such as those in Article 5 of the NATO charter.
German Chancellor Merz:
- "We would all like to see a ceasefire at the next meeting. I canʼt imagine the next meeting without a ceasefire."
Italian Prime Minister Meloni:
- First of all, we will discuss security guarantees so that this war does not start again. We will start with a proposal such as Article 5 of NATO.
French President Macron:
- Firstly, we should talk about a ceasefire, and then, when we talk about peace, there should be a question of security guarantees. Among them, the provision of the Ukrainian army and pan-European security.
British Prime Minister Starmer agreed that a ceasefire should be discussed first, and only then a full peace agreement.
President of Finland Stubb:
- Many may ask what the President of Finland is doing here. But we have a very long border with Russia. And a great historical experience of wars. In 1944 we were able to find a solution. And I hope that we will find it this time too.
NATO Secretary General Rutte and European Commission President von der Leyen also expressed their commitment to finding a solution for the peace process.
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