Key takeaways from Ukraine talks in Washington

President Voludmir Zelinsky returned to the White House on Monday to meet with US President Donald Trump for new talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

Many European leaders also renewed the plans so that they could fly to Washington to attend the meeting, days after Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, met in Alaska due to a summit that failed to stop the shooting.

Despite Trump’s optimistic words and some lukewarm assessments of his European partners, by Monday evening, there were no concrete obligations to security guarantees or concrete steps towards a peace agreement.

Below is fast food from conversations.

One of Trump’s goals that is very known is organizing a triple meeting with Zelinski and Putin.

Before his conversations with European leaders on Monday, he said it is now a matter of “when, no” if “this meeting would be held.

After the summit, Trump said he had contacted Putin to start “arranging” bilateral conversations between the Russian leader and Zelinski.

Trump said that after a duo between Putin and Zellinski, at a location that is determined, there will be a trilogy where the US president will join the two.

Putin’s advisor then said that Trump and Putin spoke for 40 minutes on the phone on Monday.

Before European leaders sitting with Trump in the Eastern Chamber of the White House, the hot microphone picked up notes between the American leader and French President Emmanuel Macron.

“I think he wants to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal for me. You understand that? Madly like this,” Trump said.

It remains to see how clear to bring two of these bitter enemies face to face at the negotiating table for the first time since the full invasion of Russia began in February 2022.

For months, Zelinski was pressing Putin’s interview, although there was no indication that the Ukrainian leader believed that such a couple could bring the conflict closer to an end.

Instead, this was likely to be a way to prove his argument that Russia is not serious in following peace, because he believed that Putin had no interest in approving a meeting of this kind.

The Russian president said earlier that he considered Zelinsky “illegal” because no elections were held in Ukraine since the beginning of the war amid martial law.

The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected Putin Zelinski’s bilateral idea.

Two weeks ago, Moscow argued that the Russian and Ukrainian presidents had no reason to meet even a “appropriate distance” between the sites of the two countries “overcoming”.

In a non -binding statement shared by Kremlin Assistant Yuri Oshkov on Monday night, Moscow said it is considered “worthy of” interest “exploring the possibility of raising the level of actors” from Russian and Ukrainian delegations to participate in negotiations.

It should be noted that the Kremlin language is much mysterious than Trump, and does not include any suggestion that Putin himself may prepare for a bilateral meeting with Zelinski – as much as Trump appears to be determined to combine them.

Even if this meeting happens, there is also a matter of what it might achieve when the Russian and Ukrainian demands remain to end the war.

In his remarks alongside European leaders on Monday, Trump seemed to reject the need for any ceasefire before negotiations were made to end the war.

In the past, this was a major demand for Ukraine, which made it clear that he sees an end to fighting as a prerequisite for more talks with Russia, and eventually, for a long -term settlement.

The ceasefire may be marginally easier than a full peace agreement, which will take several months of negotiations, in which Russia’s assault on Ukraine will continue.

On Monday, Trump indicated that the six wars claimed to have helped stopped since January – including conflicts between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thailand Campodia and Pakistani India – without any official endowment in the first place.

“I don’t know it is necessary,” he said.

European leaders seemed to have pushed this proposal, with the strongest refutation coming from German Chancellor Friedrich Mirz.

“I cannot imagine that the next meeting will be held without a ceasefire,” Mirz said. “Therefore, let’s work on that and let us try to pressure Russia.”

Since things are standing, it is still unclear whether the government in Kiev is steadfast in its belief that the ceasefire is a necessary step towards meaningful talks with Moscow.

When he was asked to speak, Zelinski did not repeat his previous invitations to a ceasefire in his place.

He was one of the questions asked Zelinski about what he would need from the United States to ensure the security of his country. Was the forces, intelligence and equipment?

At a moment when the sense of the urgency, which apparently tried to suppress him during most of the press conference, Zelinsky bent forward and said, categorically: “Everything.”

“We need a strong Ukrainian army,” he added. “It comes to weapons, people, training missions and intelligence.”

Trump did not offer us military shoes on the ground.

But when the correspondents were asked whether American security guarantees for Ukraine could include any American army in the country, Trump did not rule out that.

He said that Europe was the “first line of defense”, but we will participate.

“We will give them good protection,” the president said.

This is the most crucial Trump of the issue of security guarantees, which is generally seen as it is very important for any kind of deal with Russia.

On Monday, the US President said during the Alaska summit last week, before Putin that there would be security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace deal.

But the lack of details about what may consist of these guarantees exactly is in relation to both Kiev and Europe, and the leaders of closed doors will undoubtedly try to arouse Trump’s admiration that the American deterrent should be more than just symbolism.

We welcome the continuous flow of weapons to Ukraine; The promise of American shoes on the ground will be more dependent.

It may be difficult to obtain this level of commitment, at this stage, from Trump.

The deployment of American forces on Ukrainian lands means exposing the risk of direct confrontation with Russia.

It will also constitute a major direct intervention by a president who is proud of his ability to separate the United States from foreign conflicts.

Looking at his recent recent visit to the Oval Office in February, the Ukrainian President went to the extreme to be homogeneous and charm of his American hosts – including a wave of six “thanks” during the first few minutes of the meeting.

The last time he was in the White House, Zelinski was reprimanded by Vice President JD Vance due to the perceived lack of gratitude to the United States’ support for Ukraine during the war.

Another point of disagreement also appeared at the February meeting – Zelinski clothes -.

This time, Zelinski was wearing a dark suit instead of his traditional military uniform, and he appeared well ready with a joke when he was asked about his clothes by the reporter himself who previously criticized him not to wear a suit for the oval office last time.

After the reporter told him that he looked “wonderful”, Zelinski returned to the journalist wearing the “same lawsuit” as the last time, which raised laughter from the correspondents, Trump and other officials in the room.

“As you see, it has changed,” he added.

Zelensky also sought to formulate a family communication during the meeting, and gave his host a letter from the Ukrainian first lady, Odeena Zelinska, to be delivered to the first lady, Melania Trump.

“Not for you – [it’s] To your wife, Trump said.

Likewise, the other European leaders decided to request complimenting with Trump before their multilateral meeting, and they were praising him for his work in bringing them around the table.

“I really want to thank you for your leadership,” said NATO president Mark Retty.

Italian Prime Minister Giojia Miloni said that although there is no sign that Russia wants to move towards peace “something has changed” thanks to Trump.

Despite the warm tones, the Europeans made concerted efforts to communicate that, also, they are feeling any future Russian aggression.

“When we talk about security guarantees, we also talk about the issue of the security of the European continent.”