Ukraine peace deal far from imminent after Trump meets Zelensky and European leaders

TEHRAN (Iran News) US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders for talks on the war in Ukraine. While officials described the discussions on Monday as making “progress,” no peace deal or ceasefire appeared imminent.

The talks, held at the White House, followed discussions between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, now its fourth year.

Trump hosted Putin in the city of Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday, for the discussions that produced no agreement on a ceasefire either.

“All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace. Maybe something like that could happen. As of this moment, it’s not happening,” Trump said addressing his meeting with leaders from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the EU and NATO.

The US president however assured Zelensky that American support would be part of any security guarantees for Ukraine in a potential peace agreement, though the specifics of such commitments remained undefined.

Following the Monday summit, Trump also announced that he has initiated preparations for a potential meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, which would be followed by a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky.

Putin has agreed to face-to-face talks with Zelensky, according to Trump and European leaders, but Russia has not confirmed any meeting yet. Zelensky also expressed openness to talks with Russia “in any format.”

This is while, the Russian president has previously resisted a one-on-one meeting with Zelensky.

Trump characterized the multilateral summit with Zelensky and European leaders as “an important preliminary move” in resolving the nearly four-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“I believe this is a major step forward,” Zelensky was quoted by The Guardian as saying.

He added that the security guarantees for Ukraine would probably be worked out within 10 days.

Ukraine will promise to buy $100bn of US weapons financed by Europe as part of a deal to get guarantees from the US for its security if there is a peace settlement with Russia, according to news reports.

In the meantime, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the Monday talks at the White house as “good and constructive” over the “two material outcomes”, including work on security guarantees, and the planned Putin-Zelensky meeting.

French President Emmanuel Macron echoed similar comments. He said the most significant outcome of the talks at the White House was the willingness of the US to work on the content of security guarantees for Ukraine. Macron meanwhile called for stepping up sanctions against Russia if Putin does not move forward on peace with Ukraine.