Trump meets Zelensky, European leaders on resolving Ukrainian crisis

U.S. President Donald Trump (C) welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Aug. 18, 2025. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the White House and began a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday. (Xinhua/Hu Yousong)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and seven European leaders at the White House on Monday, with a focus on resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

Trump first held a bilateral meeting with Zelensky.

While answering reporters' questions together with the Ukrainian leader, Trump said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the war to end, and he will work with Ukraine and all parties to make sure peace stays.

Trump said progress is being made in resolving the Ukrainian crisis and there will be security guarantees that Ukraine asks for.

Zelensky said he supports the idea of finishing the war in a diplomatic way and he is ready for a trilateral meeting.

The European leaders -- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron -- attended multilateral talks after the bilateral meeting.

In a speech to the media along with other leaders, Trump said Putin agreed to accept security guarantees for Ukraine and that Putin wants to find an answer.

Zelensky stressed that Ukraine would be happy if Trump could attend a possible trilateral meeting with him and Putin.

The Ukrainian leader said sensitive things, including the territorial issue, would be discussed at the trilateral meeting.

Trump said such a trilateral meeting should be held "as soon as we can."

The European leaders supported the idea of a ceasefire, saying that some progress could be made on security guarantees for Ukraine.

"I can't imagine that the next meeting will take place without a ceasefire," Merz said.

Macron floated the idea of a quadrilateral meeting that also involves the European side, saying that "when we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent."

Trump interrupted his talks with the European leaders to call Putin, according to media reports.

"At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began 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," Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.

The meetings on Monday took place after Trump and Putin met for nearly three hours in the U.S. state of Alaska on Friday. No deal was reached from the Friday meeting.