US President Donald Trump on Monday told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Washington would help guarantee Ukraine’s security in any eventual peace deal with Russia, though details of the promised assistance remained uncertain.
Trump made the assurance during a high-profile summit at the White House with Zelenskiy and European leaders, just days after his meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help,” Trump told reporters, stressing that Europe would play a key role. “They are a first line of defence because they’re there, but we’ll help them out.”
Zelenskiy welcomed the pledge as “a major step forward,” confirming that security guarantees would be “formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days.” He also disclosed that Ukraine had offered to purchase about $90 billion worth of US weapons.
The atmosphere marked a sharp contrast to February’s Oval Office confrontation, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance openly criticised the Ukrainian leader. However, a concrete peace deal still appeared distant.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry, ahead of the talks, dismissed any possibility of NATO troop deployment to enforce a settlement, complicating Trump’s proposal.
Both Trump and Zelenskiy expressed hope that the summit would lay the groundwork for eventual trilateral talks with Putin. Later on Monday, Trump announced via social media that he had spoken with the Russian leader and begun arranging a Zelenskiy-Putin meeting, to be followed by a three-way summit.
According to a European source, Trump told EU leaders that Putin had suggested the sequence of meetings. While the Kremlin has yet to publicly confirm, a senior US official indicated Hungary could host the talks. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz added that the Zelenskiy-Putin meeting was expected within the next two weeks.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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