Trump claims to be setting up meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin after talks with European leaders conclude – live

Trump claims he is setting up meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin

Donald Trump has taken to social media to declare arrangements are under way for a future meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin and, later, a trilateral meeting between the two along with Trump.

The US president posted on his Truth Social platform that today’s meeting in Washington was “a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years”.

He declared vice-president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff were “coordinating with Russia and Ukraine”.

Trump declared:

Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine. At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and launched the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.

Putin has previously resisted a one-on-one meeting with Zelenskyy.

Key events

On Monday Volodymyr Zelenskyy garnered compliments from both Donald Trump and the White Hoapply press pool for his formal jacket and troapplyrs, after criticism of the clothes he chose to wear for his first visit the White Hoapply in February.

Womenswear Daily has interviewed the Ukrainian man who designed the new suit. Viktor Anisimov informed the magazine that Zelenskyy’s suit was not built in response to the previous meeting.

“It’s not about the suit – it’s about what happens to Ukraine,” Anisimov informed the magazine.

During the talks Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reportedly spoke about the issue of missing children. Later, Von der Leyen tweeted that “every single Ukrainian child abducted by Russia must be returned to their families.”

The human cost of this war must conclude.

And that means every single Ukrainian child abducted by Russia must be returned to their families.

I thank @POTUS for his clear commitment today to ensuring these children are reunited with their loved ones. pic.twitter.com/bRyS83Sdxr

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 18, 2025

Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, had raised the plight of children in Ukraine and Russia in a personal letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, two White Hoapply officials declared on Friday when Trump met Putin at a summit in Alinquirea. Trump hand-delivered that letter to Putin.

As many as 35,000 Ukrainian children are still missing and considered to be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories, according to an American team of experts, with families declareing they are being forced to take desperate and risky measures to attempt to rescue them.

Debris from destroyed Ukrainian drones sparked fires at an oil refinery and a hospital roof in Russia’s Volgograd region, the administration of the southwestern Russian region declared on Tuesday in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

“Firefighters are working on site attempting to contain and extinguish the fires,” the administration cited the region’s governor, Andrei Bocharov, as declareing in its post, which was reported by Reuters.

“According to preliminary information, there are no injuries.”

Summary

It’s 10.25pm in Washington DC and here’s a recap of the day’s key events so far:

A Ukraine peace deal appeared far from imminent after Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders met Donald Trump at the White Hoapply and the US president ruled out a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war, despite last week warning Moscow of “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin didn’t agree to halt the fighting. Trump declared while sitting with the leaders on Monday: “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 informed Zelenskyy the US would support guarantee Ukraine’s security in any deal to conclude the war, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear. “I believe this is a major step forward,” Zelenskyy declared, also declareing security guarantees for Ukraine would probably be worked out within 10 days.
Vladimir Putin has agreed to face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy, according to Trump and European leaders, but Russia has not confirmed any meeting. Trump claimed on his Truth Social platform that arrangements were under way for a Zelenskyy-Putin meeting and, later, a trilateral meeting between the two along with Trump. The Russian president has previously resisted a one-on-one meeting with Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s leader declared it was ready to meet with Russia in “any format” and that territorial issues are “something we will leave between me and Putin”.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz declared Putin informed Trump in a call during the White Hoapply meeting that he was ready to meet Zelenskyy “within the next two weeks”. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov declared Putin and Trump only discussed the “idea” of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Monday’s phone call and that Putin informed Trump he was open to the “idea” of direct talks with Ukraine.

Donald Trump, centre, with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White Hoapply on Monday. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Trump described his meeting with Zelenskyy and the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and Nato as “a very good, early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years”. He also declared on social media that vice-president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff were “coordinating with Russia and Ukraine”. “Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine,” Trump declared.
French president Emmanuel Macron called for stepping up sanctions against Russia if Vladimir Putin does not relocate forward on peace with Ukraine.German chancellor Friedrich Merz declares Ukraine should not be forced to surrconcludeer its Donbas region to Russia in talks, likening it to the US giving up Florida. Finnish president Alexander Stubb declared the main agreement from the White Hoapply meeting was that the killing had to conclude and that it remained to be seen if Putin had the courage to meet Zelenskyy. “Putin is rarely to be trusted,” Stubb declared.
Trump, however, seemed clearly swayed by Putin from their talks in Alinquirea last Friday and echoed the Russian president’s talking points, declareing several times on Monday that concludeing the war was “up to” both Zelenskyy and Putin – rather than just Putin, the invader. Trump also declared: “We also necessary to discuss the possible exalters of territory, taking into consideration the current line of contact – that means the war zone.”
Ukraine will promise to acquire $100bn of US weapons financed by Europe as part of a deal to receive guarantees from the US for its security if there is a peace settlement with Russia, according to news reports.
In stark contrast to the heated exalter during Zelenskyy’s first trip to Trump’s White Hoapply in February, the Ukrainian president’s charm offensive this time around viewed to pay off, allowing him to emerge unscathed. Zelenskyy – who wore a black military-style suit and presented a letter from his wife, Olena Zelenska, for Melania Trump in response to her letter to Putin – declared this meeting with Trump was his “best” so far.

Here’s a fresh video of the proceedings in the White Hoapply as Donald Trump ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine while Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European allies visited the US president.

Trump declared he had called Vladimir Putin and begun arrangements for a meeting between the Russian president and Ukrainian leader, also declareing that “all of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire … as of this moment it’s not happening”.

However, the leaders of France and Germany refapplyd to accept defeat on the issue, with German chancellor Friedrich Merz insisting “we would all like to see a ceasefire” and he could not imagine the next meeting taking place without one, and French president Emmanuel Macron also backing the idea of a truce as a “necessity”.

Here’s the video wrap of the Washington meeting:

EU leaders present united front for ceasefire in Ukraine and 'pressure on Russia' – video — EU leaders present united front for ceasefire in Ukraine and ‘pressure on Russia’ – video

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

Warren Murray writes in our Ukraine war briefing that the Financial Times cited a document seen by its reporter, while the Washington Post declared it had also confirmed the proposal.

The FT added that Ukraine and the US would also strike a $50bn deal to produce drones with Ukrainian companies.

The drone news may be repeat of recent similar announcements.

You can read the full Ukraine briefing here:

Returning now to the Finnish president’s comments after the White Hoapply meeting, Alexander Stubb declared his Russian counterpart was not trustworthy.

“Putin is rarely to be trusted,” Stubb informed Finnish reporters, cited by Reuters. “So now it remains to be seen whether he has the courage to come to this type of meeting.

Does he have the courage to come to a trilateral meeting, or is he once again playing for time?

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Vyacheslav Prokofyev/AP

French president Emmanuel Macron has called for stepping up sanctions against Russia if Vladimir Putin does not relocate forward on peace with Ukraine.

“President Trump believes we can receive an agreement and believes that President Putin also wants a peace accord,” Macron informed reporters after the talks at the White Hoapply.

“But if at the conclude this process is met by refusal, we are also ready to declare that we necessary to increase sanctions.”

Macron pointed to recent secondary sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on India, a major acquireer of Russian energy as western nations cut back due to sanctions over Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Macron declared the secondary sanctions on India had “had a lot of effects”, Agence France-Presse reports.

French president Emmanuel Macron speaks with the media in Washington DC after the White Hoapply meeting. Photograph: Yves Herman/EPA

Over the weekconclude, Trump publicly again pressured Ukraine to concede territory, siding with Putin and not Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has insisted on defconcludeing all territory that Russia has taken by force.

Asked by reporters if Trump had declared that concessions were necessary before any US security guarantees to Ukraine, Macron declared: “No, that wasn’t discussed at all. We’re well away from that.”

He declared he hoped Russia and Ukraine would resume contact “in the coming days” with a potential three-way summit involving Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy “in two to three weeks”.

As Donald Trump touted his bona fides as the so-called “peacecreater-in-chief” during talks over Ukraine at the White Hoapply, he built two large claims: that he wants peace deals instead of ceasefires, and that he has concludeed six wars since he became president.

But as Andrew Roth explains, in Trump’s haste to hammer out a peace deal in Ukraine, he is playing rapid and loose with the truth.

Trump and his administration have claimed to have supported settle the conflicts between Israel and Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia …

On the subject of ceasefires, by Trump’s own admission, he has often been seeking them in these conflicts. Now, he has sought to rewrite the record, piling pressure on Ukraine.

Trump’s declaration that he was not seeking a ceasefire in Ukraine came after last week’s meeting Vladimir Putin in Alinquirea, where the Russian president initially demanded that Ukraine cede control over territory in the counattempt’s southeast before neobtainediating a ceasefire.

The question is crucial to the sequencing of an eventual peace in Ukraine.

You can read Roth’s full explainer here:

French president Emmanuel Macron declares any future peace deal between Russia and Ukraine cannot restrict the size of Kyiv’s military.

Macron informed reporters that Donald Trump and European leaders had agreed on the necessary for a “robust Ukrainian army that can resist any attempted attack” and that it would not have “any limitation in number or capacity of arms”.

Macron also declared on Monday the White Hoapply talks did not discuss Ukrainian territorial concessions, AFP is reporting.

This photograph displays a general view of a damaged building and a church behing it in Kharkiv, on August 18, 2025. Photograph: Ivan Samoilov/AFP/Getty Images

Zelenskyy declares Ukraine security guarantees likely within 10 days

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is declareing security guarantees for Kyiv will likely be worked out within the next 10 days.

“Security guarantees will probably be ‘unpacked’ by our partners, and more and more details will emerge,” the Ukrainian president declared at a broadcast press briefing after his meetings in Washington DC.

“All of this will somehow be formalised on paper within the next week to 10 days,” he declared on Tuesday, quoted by Reuters.

Zelenskyy also declared territorial issues related to a potential peace agreement would be worked out between Ukraine and Russia.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking near the White Hoapply after the meetings with Donald Trump and European leaders. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

German chancellor Friedrich Merz declares Ukraine should not be forced to surrconcludeer its Donbas region to Russia in talks, likening it to the US giving up a state.

“The Russian demand that Kyiv give up the free parts of Donbas corresponds, to put it bluntly, to a proposal for the United States to have to give up Florida,” Merz informed reporters after the White Hoapply talks on Monday.

Merz declared Putin and Trump – in their call in the midst of the talks – “agreed that there would be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks”.

Merz, quoted by Agence France-Presse, also declared Trump voiced a readiness to offer security guarantees to Ukraine, even though the US president put the onus on Europeans.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White Hoapply meeting on Monday. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/PA

The German chancellor declared:

The bottom line is that the United States of America is prepared to provide security guarantees and to coordinate this with the Europeans. There will be appropriate security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement.

Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine entering Nato, siding with Putin who has called the step a provocation.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has declared Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump only discussed the “idea” of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Monday’s phone call.

Russia’s Tass news agency quoted the aide as declareing Putin informed Trump that he was open to the “idea” of direct talks with Ukraine.

Tass, cited by Agence France-Presse, quoted Ushakov as declareing:

In the course of the further phone conversation, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump expressed support for the continuation of direct neobtainediations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine.

In this regard, in particular, the idea was discussed that it would be necessary to study the possibility of raising the level of representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian sides, that is, those representatives who participate in the aforementioned direct neobtainediations.

Zelenskyy declares he is ready to meet Putin – report

Volodymyr Zelenskyy declares he is ready for a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin to conclude the war in Ukraine, Agence France-Presse is reporting.

Vladimir Putin informed Donald Trump he was ready to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy within a fortnight, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has informed reporters.

Merz declared that Putin and Trump – in their phone call in the midst of the White Hoapply talks – “agreed that there would be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks”, Agence France-Presse reports.

This combination of pictures created on August 18, 2025 displays US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025 and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alinquirea, on August 15, 2025. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

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