Donald Trump meets Zelenskyy at White House days after talks with Putin over Ukraine

European leaders arrived at the White House in a show of support for Ukraine’s Zelenskiy ahead of his meeting with President Trump. Follow live updates: https://t.co/ASB0LDsknP 📷 @SmileItsNathan pic.twitter.com/YN9nAlJ66t

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 18, 2025

Ahead of the meeting, in a post on X, Zelenskyy said the European leaders had “coordinated” their positions before meeting Trump in the White House and that their main goal was “a reliable and lasting peace for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe.”

“We shouldn’t expect Putin to voluntarily abandon aggression and new attempts at conquest,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Earlier, Trump had suggested that Zelenskyy “can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.”

According to the US President, a settlement would require “no getting back… Crimea” and “no going into NATO by Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy, however, rejected the suggestion and argued that “Russia must end this war, which it itself started. And I hope that our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace,” he insisted.

Crimea has been under Russian occupation since February 2014, while parts of Luhansk, Sevastopol, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fell into Russian hands in 2022 following the invasion. This accounts for nearly 20 per cent of Ukraine’s land.

This was the second time this year Trump and Zelenskyy met at the White House. Their meeting on February ended in chaos after the Ukrainian leader was asked to leave the White House by top Trump aides, including Vice President JD Vance.

Russian President Putin on Monday spoke with the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa to discuss the results of talks between him and Trump in Alaska. He also spoke with key allies, including leaders in Central Asia and Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko, in a series of calls on Monday and Sunday.