Five key takeaways from Zelensky's talks with Donald Trump at the White House
US president Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and several European allies to the White House yesterday.
Following Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin's summit in Alaska on Friday, in which no ceasefire was reached, the 'coalition of the willing' rallied around Ukraine and strengthened their calls for a solution.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer joined Trump and Mr Zelensky alongside several other European leaders – and Sir Keir said 'real progress' had been made during the summit held yesterday afternoon.
He described the talks as 'good and constructive', adding: 'There was a real sense of unity between the European leaders that were there, and president Trump and president Zelensky.'
Trump also described the talks as 'very good', saying on his Truth Social platform that 'everyone is happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine'.
And president Zelensky said the talks were 'the best' so far, adding: 'We are very happy with the president that all the leaders are here and security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts.'
But what did the talks actually achieve?
During the meeting, Trump promised the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.
Trump reiterated ahead of the meeting that he is still totally against Ukraine joining Nato – but Putin is reportedly open to allowing the US to provide Ukraine with Nato-like 'robust security guarantees'.
Speaking at the weekend, US envoy Steve Witkoff said: 'We were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer article five-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato.'
Nato's Article Five is the principle that an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all – and Russia has long opposed Ukraine being accepted into Nato.
The US president added: 'I think that the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden. We're going to help them, and we're going to make it very secure.'
Trump told the meeting that he had spoken directly with Putin to start planning a meeting between him and Mr Zelensky.
In fact, according to an EU diplomat, Trump interrupted the meeting to call the Russian president, Sky News reports.
Sir Keir said after the meeting: 'The other material outcome was the agreement that there will now be a bilateral agreement between president Putin and president Zelensky, followed by a trilateral which will then add in president Trump.
'That is a recognition of the principle that on some of these issues, whether it's territory or the exchange of prisoners, or the very serious issue of the return of children, that is something where Ukraine must be at the table.
'These were the two outcomes that were the most important coming out of today. They're positive outcomes, there was a real sense of unity. We've made real progress today.'
Speaking to Fox News after the Alaska summit, Trump suggested it could be 'up to Zelensky' to make peace with Russia.
If Trump is able to set up a meeting between Putin and Mr Zelensky, it would be only the second time the two leaders have met face-to-face.
They last met in 2019 at the Élysée Palace in Paris to try and negotiate a solution after Russia annexed Crimea illegally in 2014 and Russian-backed separatists started to take control of parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Trump also said that 'if everything works out well today' he would organise a meeting between himself, Putin, and Mr Zelensky.
Mr Zelensky was reportedly using the meeting to push for a trilateral meeting between himself, Trump and Putin after he was excluded from the Alaska summit.
From the perspective of Mr Zelensky and other European leaders, the priority for yesterday's talks seemed to be that further negotiations and talks about Ukraine's future must include Ukraine's input.
French president Emmanuel Macron said while a trilateral meeting is important, he also wanted a 'quadrilateral' summit to take place afterwards.
It wasn't clear whether he wanted the fourth party in the meeting to be France, Nato, the EU, or the 'coalition of the willing' as a whole.
Following Friday's Alaska summit, where the prospect of a ceasefire was not discussed, Trump said there doesn't need to be a ceasefire in Ukraine, as a peace deal could be worked out while the two countries are still at war.
He commented: 'I don't think you need a ceasefire. You know, if you look at the six deals that I settled this year, they were all at war, I didn't do any ceasefires.
'I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand, strategically, why one country or the other wouldn't want it.
'You have a ceasefire and they rebuild and rebuild and rebuild and maybe they don't want that.'
German chancellor Friedrich Merz seemed to oppose this, telling media in the White House: 'I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire, so let's work on that and let's try to put pressure on Russia.'
Trump later pushed back, saying: 'So if we can do the ceasefire, great, and, if we don't do a ceasefire… many other points were given to us, many, many points were given to us, great points.'
Trump repeatedly said before this meeting that a discussion about territory exchanges needed to be discussed.
He said any exchanges would need to 'take into consideration the current line of contact', adding: 'That means the war zone, the war lines that are now, pretty obvious, very sad, actually, to look at them and negotiating positions.'
It's understood that during the Alaska summit on Friday Putin demanded Ukraine hand over its Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a condition for ending the war – a move which Trump reportedly endorsed privately.
In exchange, Russia would reportedly give up other Ukrainian territories held by its troops. More Trending
However Mr Zelensky has repeated that he is not able to give up any of his country's territory – including Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Speaking in April about the possibility of ceding land, he simply said: 'There is nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.'
Article two of Ukraine's constitution states that its sovereignty 'extends throughout its entire territory' which 'within its present border is indivisible and inviolable'.
For any change to the country's borders to happen, the Ukrainian parliament must authorise a national referendum for its citizens to vote on.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Fact check: Donald Trump boasts he's ended 'six wars in six months' but has he?
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