US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had a “very good” meeting at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top European leaders, where discussions centered on security guarantees for Ukraine and prospects for peace with Russia.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump listed the attendees — including France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, the UK’s Keir Starmer, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Finland’s Alexander Stubb, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — noting that the talks were followed by a further Oval Office session. “Everyone is very happy about the possibility of peace for Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote.
Trump added that he called Russian President Vladimir Putin after the meetings to brief him on the talks and began arranging a potential trilateral summit involving himself, Putin, and Zelenskyy. “This was a very good, early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years,” Trump said, adding that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are coordinating with Moscow and Kyiv.
The White House echoed the optimism, calling the day’s discussions “very successful,” while stressing that the goal remained “to stop the killing and resolve this.”
Zelenskyy described the exchanges as “very good,” noting that sensitive issues had been raised. European leaders also welcomed the US-led push, crediting Trump with breaking the deadlock with Moscow.
NATO chief Mark Rutte thanked Trump for “starting the dialogue” with Putin, while Finnish President Stubb said more progress had been made in two weeks than in the past three-and-a-half years. Italian PM Giorgia Meloni called it “a new phase” after years of Russian unwillingness to engage, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the day would be remembered as “very important” in efforts to end the conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that “everybody is in favor of peace,” while EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen highlighted that “stopping the killing” was the shared priority.
Trump has said that the next steps involve preparing the ground for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy, with the US and European allies working on security guarantees to ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and stability.
