KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday after a Russia-U.S. summit ended without an agreement to stop the fighting in Ukraine after 3 1/2 years.
After calls early Saturday with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump posted on social media that “that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
That statement echoed previous remarks by President Vladimir Putin that Russia is not interested in a temporary truce, and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes Moscow’s interests into account.
Zelenskyy, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he held a “long and substantive” conversation with Trump. He thanked him for an invitation to meet in person in Washington on Monday and said they would “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”
It will be Zelenskyy’s first visit to the U.S. since Trump berated him publicly for being “disrespectful” during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28.
Trump confirmed the White House meeting and said that “if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.”
Trump rolled out the red carpet on Friday for Putin, who was in the U.S. for the first time in a decade and since the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But he gave little concrete detail afterward of what was discussed. On Saturday, he posted on social media that it “went very well.”
Trump had warned ahead of the summit of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin doesn’t agree to end the war.
Zelenskyy seeks European involvement
Zelenskyy reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not at the summit.
“It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,” he said. “We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security.”
He didn’t elaborate, but Zelenskyy previously has said that European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter future Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop.
Zelenskyy said he spoke to Trump one-on-one and then in a call with other European leaders. In total, the conversations lasted over 90 minutes.
Trump puts onus on Zelenskyy and Europe
Trump said in Alaska that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress.”
During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelenskyy “to get it done,” but said there would also be some involvement from European nations.
In a statement after speaking to Trump, major European leaders said they were ready to work with Trump and Zelenskyy toward “a trilateral summit with European support.”
The statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the European Union's two top officials said that “Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees” and welcomed U.S. readiness to provide them.
“It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory,” they said. “International borders must not be changed by force.” They did not mention a ceasefire, which they had hoped for ahead of the summit.
Estonia's Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said the Alaska summit "did not change the course of the war one bit,” adding that Putin was an “old record” with the same demands.
It was clear from the meeting that Russia’s position will not change, that Kyiv should be present at any meetings and that the West must continue to support Ukraine, he said.
Questions on a Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin meeting
Zelenskyy voiced support for Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting with the U.S. and Russia. He said that “key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.”
But Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television Saturday that a potential meeting of Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy has not been raised in U.S.-Russia discussions. “The topic has not been touched upon yet,” he said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russian officials and media struck a largely positive tone, with some describing Friday’s meeting as a symbolic end to Putin’s isolation in the West.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, praised the summit as a breakthrough in restoring high-level dialogue between Moscow and Washington, describing the talks as “calm, without ultimatums and threats.”
Russian attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, using one ballistic missile and 85 Shahed drones, 61 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said. Front-line areas of Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Chernihiv were attacked.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 29 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Sea of Azov overnight.
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Morton reported from London. Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
Samya Kullab And Elise Morton, The Associated Press
